Central Hockey League: Toivonen has made quite an impression so far

Just a shade under 6-feet tall and wispy thin, Odessa Jackalopes goaltender Juha Toivonen doesn't strike fear into anyone in street clothes.

Put on the tools of the trade, however, and opposing players around the Central Hockey League start to worry.

Toivonen, 21, is in his rookie campaign with the Jackalopes, after spending the past four seasons playing in his native Finland's elite league.

Hailing from Hattula, which is "about 100 miles south of Helsinki, the capital," Toivonen is happy to be playing hockey in the United States. His brother, Hannu, has played for both the Boston Bruins and St. Louis Blues in limited National Hockey League action.

"Growing up, I always wanted to play hockey in North America," Juha Toivonen said. "Playing hockey in Finland is great, but it's a different game.

"There, the rinks are much bigger and the players do a lot more passing, trying to be fancy. Here, the puck is always being shot at the net and there's more action."

Toivonen has seen plenty of action so far this season, playing in 13 of the Jackalopes' 19 games to date. He has a 9-3-1 record, with a 2.67 goals-against average and a .903 save percentage. On Nov. 26, he recorded his first professional shutout, a 4-0 victory at Corpus Christi.

He will, however, likely miss the next several games because of knee injury suffered Tuesday against the Arizona Sundogs while making a save at the left post.

Falling awkwardly to the ice to stop the puck, Toivonen twisted his right knee. Making matters worse was that as he was going to the ice, his right pad rolled and exposed the outside of his knee and one of the Suddogs' players, looking for a rebound, slashed at the puck and hit Toivonen's knee, as well.

"It's sore," said Toivonen, who had an MRI on Wednesday. "I think it's just twisted because when the doctor was looking at it, he said it was pretty stable.

"The worst thing about it was that when I got hurt, I left Vinnie (goaltender Alexandre Vincent) in a bad situation with a 5-on-3. I hated to do that to him."

The Jackalopes weathered that storm and head coach Paul Gillis is confident the team will rally around Vincent to weather the latest crisis.

Until the injury, Gillis loved what he saw from his rookie goaltender.

"One of the big questions we had was how he was going to adjust to the style of play over here," Gillis said. "But when we got him over here, he adjusted well and really was tested in training camp and the early games.

"Every bit of playing time he's gotten, he's earned. Juha is very athletic, moves side to side well and has very good technique in the net."

That technique, along with Vincent, has helped the Jackalopes vault to the top of the Southwest Division standings with 26 points (12-5-2), nine points in front of the defending champion Sundogs.

Toivonen and Vincent meet with Jackalopes general manager Joe Clark once a week to work on things and talk about being successful each night.

"Working with Joe really has helped me understand things," Toivonen said. "But I think the biggest reason is the way the guys are playing in front of me.

"When I see the puck, I should make the save and they have been playing great and allowing me to see all the shots. I love playing for this organization and with this teams it's been great."