WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – It doesn’t come with a trophy or a banner, but the Pittsburgh Penguins were defending their “championship” from the year prior at this month’s 2024 Prospects Challenge in Buffalo, New York.
The title hung in the balance of last game at the event, featuring the Penguins and the host Buffalo Sabres. After a hat trick by Avery Hayes pulled Pittsburgh out of a multi-goal hole, a four-on-four session opened up the playing surface and put momentum up for grabs.
Tristan Broz and Ville Koivunen stepped on the ice and made sure to seize that momentum for the Penguins. Broz dipsy-doodled to draw attention of defenders, before darting the puck to an open Koivunen, who had enough space to rifle a wrist shot under the cross bar.
And then they did it again.
Later in the game, with the teams once again skating at four-on-four, Koivunen and Broz connected for another tally. This time, it was Broz on the finish after a slick feed from his Finnish teammate, and that goal put the game of reach for Buffalo.
After the game, new Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins head coach had a creative way of describing the pair’s dazzling chemistry.
“It looked like street hockey,” MacDonald said. “It was elite plays by both guys. [Broz’s] release there, the two-touch backhand, forehand to the low blocker was unbelievable.”
They’re quickly compiling highlights in these exhibition contests, a far cry from the crucible both Broz and Koivunen were thrust into with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton last spring.
After winning the NCAA National Championship with the University of Denver, Broz signed an entry-level contract with Pittsburgh and joined its AHL affiliate for the Calder Cup Playoffs. Koivunen, who was acquired from the Carolina Hurricanes as part of the Jake Guentzel trade, caught a flight across the Atlantic Ocean to Northeast Pennsylvania once his Finnish club team was eliminated from the Liiga playoffs.
New teammates, new coaches, new surroundings, and a whole lot of pressure to immediately succeed in a playoff setting.
Even though their first foray in Black and Gold was short, Broz feels like that it helped prepare him for what to expect this season in the pros.
“It motivated me a lot this summer to see how good everyone is at that level,” Broz said in Buffalo. “It was good to get a taste of that and see what the level is like to motivate me and keep me hungry in the summer.”
On the other hand, Koivunen already has a bit of a head start on some of his European counterparts when it comes to adjusting to the pro game in North America. Chicago when he was 19-years-old, then again in the Calder Cup Playoffs for the Penguins at 20-years-old.
It’s always a tricky move for European players – especially point producers like Koivunen – but the Finnish prospect believes that he’s suited for the switch. In fact, he goes as far as to say he prefers the North American game to the style played in his home continent.
“I like to play the style of how they play here, I think it’s going to be good,” Koivunen said. “It’s north-south all the time. It’s a little bit more of an offensive game here. That’s the reason why I like it.”
If Koivunen liked the North American style in small doses the last two seasons and in the preseason this year, he’ll certainly have plenty of chances to scratch that itch during a full campaign this year.
The early chemistry that Broz and Koivunen already show is incredibly encouraging for two prospects who are projected to be major contributors for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton as rookies this season. That is unless their street hockey sixth sense ends up being parlayed to more time in the Steel City sooner rather than later…
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