Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff reports that Red Wings prospects John Whipple and Jesse Kiiskinen vigorously battled each other as Team USA Blue won a hard-fought 5-3 victory over Team Finland:
[Their competition] led to some heated battles between the pair, which had to warm the cockles of any Red Wings fans in attendance. If there’s been one element that been found consistently wanting on the Detroit roster in recent seasons, it’s been locating hard-nosed players who were willing to not only go to the dirty areas on the ice, but were also willing to arrive at those spots in ill humor.
For both Kiiskinen and Whipple, that’s a way of life. In fact, it’s the only way they know how to play the game.
“Just trying to be as mean as I can and shut plays down,” was how Whipple described his style.
Kiiskinen also takes pride in being a thorn in the opposition’s side.
“That’s what I do,” Kiiskinen said. “I like that. I feel confident when I hit the boards and hit the other guy. Everything like that. In front of the net, the battles, I like those battles.”
Continued; the Red Wings drafted Whipple knowing that he possessed a nasty edge, but I’ll admit that I was disappointed when the Red Wings traded a similarly rough-and-tumble defenseman in John Gibson to Nashville for Kiiskinen (who is serving as Finland’s captain at the WJSS).
It’s good to hear that Kiiskinen, who’s going to play for HPK Hameenlinna of the Finnish Liiga this upcoming season, was giving Whipple, a University of Minnesota commit, everything he could handle.
