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Jesse Nurmi wants to play a lot of hockey games this season. He came to the right place.
The new London Knights import forward suffered through an injury-riddled campaign last year. So he is eager to help the club get back to the Memorial Cup final again – just like his friend Kasper Halttunen did this past spring.
“I was out four months with a knee (medial collateral ligament) injury,” the 19-year-old Finn said. “I didn’t play as many games. My goal is just be healthy this season.”
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Nurmi made his OHL debut in London’s 5-4 victory over Erie in the exhibition opener Friday at Budweiser Gardens. Like a lot of NHL-drafted players, he will depart for camp Tuesday and join the Islanders in New York.
“It’s my first time there,” said the 6-foot, 172-pounder, who was selected in the fourth round by the Isles last year. “There will be a couple of Finnish guys there and I’m going to meet (Knights grad Isaiah George) there, too.”
Nurmi grew up in Valkeala, Finland, which is 90 minutes from Helsinki. He played his youth hockey at home and stayed with the impeccably named KooKoo Kouvola club the past few years.
He and Halttunen played together in several international tournaments from under-16 right up to the U20 level, but he missed the world juniors due to his knee woes.
He rebounded this summer by leading the four-nation World Junior Summer Showcase in scoring with two goals and six points in four games.
“I’m a fast winger who can create offensive chances for myself and my linemates,” he said. “(Kasper) told me London was a great organization, great guys and I know every year, they get pretty far. It’s a nice rink and my billets are great.”
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They don’t have a sauna like so many homes back in Finland.
“But they have a hot tub,” Nurmi joked.
He has already made an impression on his new teammates.
“We’re really excited to have him here and be on our team,” Sharks first-rounder Sam Dickinson said. “We’re kind of introducing him to London and the culture of the London Knights and what it’s like to play here and in the OHL. He’s a great guy.
“Everybody already loves him around the team and he has fit in perfectly.”
AROUND THE RINK: Jacob Julien scored the game winner shorthanded on a breakaway with 13.2 seconds left . . . The new scoreboard is massive. The type size for the penalties could still stand to be a little bigger, though . . . Goalie Owen Willmore and forwards Landon Sim and Jacob Julien dressed as London’s three over-age players. Defenceman Alec Leonard and Russian winger Ruslan Gazizov sat out . . . Willmore turned aside 18 of 21 shots in his half game of work, including a breakaway chance. Alexei Medvedev finished up the contest . . . Erie was playing its fourth exhibition game already . . . On London’s first power play, head coach Dale Hunter sent out Sim, Jacob Julien, Sam O’Reilly, Oliver Bonk and Dickinson as the first unit. Bonk wasn’t in the bumper spot. They didn’t score, although Sim managed two with the man advantage in the second period . . . All five Knights on the power play were NHL draft picks, though Sim is no longer property of the St. Louis Blues. He is going to camp with New Jersey . . . London’s Ryder Boulton and Erie’s Diego Da Silva dropped the gloves mid-way through the first period. Boulton gave his Otters counterpart a fist-bump after the bout. Such sportsmanship, but the fight also ended their on-ice evening early . . . More fireworks exploded in the second period after London rookie first-rounder Logan Hawery was attacked by Erie’s 6-foot-4 defenceman Lucas Ambrosio. That led to a fight in the same stoppage between free agent forward Noah Aboflan, a 19-year-old from Elliot Lake, and Erie’s Ondrej Molnar while Otter Wesley Royston also got a fighting major. There will be suspensions from that sequence . . . Incidentally, the OHL is still looking for a director of player safety . . . Reigning OHL champs Max McCue (Columbus) and Michael Simpson (Belleville Senators) took in the game as spectators.
OHL PRESEASON
Knights 5, Otters 4
London goals: Landon Sim (2), Kaeden Johnston (2), Jacob Julien
Erie goals: Pano Fimis, Ondrej Molnar, Gabriel Frasca, Alexis Daviault
Next: The same teams meet again Saturday, 4 p.m. in St. Thomas
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