365 Days to Turn Things Around
Finnish hockey prospect Sampo Ranta (@RantaSampo) had a bed at the Red Bull Academy for a year. These 365 days were enough for the 16-year old to go from having a tough time on a club youth team to becoming part of the Finnish National Team. Let us hear from him about his time with the Red Bulls in Salzburg.
“The 2013/14 season in Finland (Turun Palloseura U16) had been the roughest by far for me due to many injuries and a lack of finding rhythm. After reflecting the year passed, I wanted to go for new challenges and opportunities abroad. Not long after, I found myself in idyllic Salzburg, Austria.
Working in southern Germany close to the Austrian border, my father had heard about the Red Bull Ice Hockey Academy in Salzburg. When I went visiting him one time in October 2014, I added my hockey gear to the luggage to try out for the Red Bulls. Convincing the coaches of my game during these couple of days, I was given the opportunity to join the under-18 team of EC Red Bull Salzburg. I made my decision to join the club for next season soon after and started training and living in Salzburg in June of 2015.
I guess it’s safe to say that in the beginning adjusting was harder than I had imagined. It was difficult because there were so many new things to consider: cultural differences, living in the Academy, and so forth. It took some time to create my own routines again. It was never about playing or training, but everything off the ice that was new felt a little bit out of my league. But once I had everything sorted out, things started going well in every aspect.
My first tournament for the Red Bulls in August 2015 was in Finland. That was both a first big challenge for me but for the team as well. It was strange, I was playing for a foreign team in front of familiar Finnish people. However, the tournament went extremely well for our team and also myself. At that time, visiting Finland and playing there gave me the closure I needed to be confident with the steps I had taken. I felt very confident about my decision to come play with the Red Bulls.
From that point on, when we got back to Salzburg, I played with great flow for almost the rest of the season. It felt like there were no limits to my development and how much I could achieve. The Academy with its facilities and training staff gave me all the opportunities to make the best out of it.
Besides practicing with the team once or twice a day, we had the opportunity to practice individually. I did that a lot. I took advantage of the possibility to go practice on the ice whenever it was free and go shoot pucks on the skate mill or at the rapid shot station. Almost every morning I also did extra cardio on the bike. Besides that, we also had a bunch of fun during our leisure time playing basketball, floor ball and pool.
During the 15/16 season, we played a lot of games in Switzerland against under-20 teams. All of the trips were enjoyable and unforgettable but still rough and demanding because of the long distances we traveled by bus.
Our trips to North-America were also a great experience. To me the tournaments in Canada and Omaha, USA were the most meaningful and I felt like those were the places I should show the best of my playing.
Our trip to Canada was special as well and we got to experience great things. Arriving there in the middle of the night, everyone was exhausted. However, we still made the trip for dinner to downtown Montreal. The food was the best I’ve ever got and that has probably stuck to my mind forever ;). It’s kind of funny. During our stay, we went to see two NHL games and had a private tour in Bell Center Montreal.
The absolute high point of the season was our trip to Omaha, USA. We played great, well above expectations. It was an important performance for our team but also for many of us individually, I believe. The first game of the trip which we won against Shattuck St. Mary’s gave us the drive we kept till the end.
Making friends in the Academy was easy to me. Our common language was English so once I got to know the team I found friends easily. I lived with another Finn, Elis Hede, so with him I spent a lot of time and we had fun living as roommates. I mostly hung out with Canadians, Americans, and Swedes, probably because we were all new to Austria. It was easy to bond all facing the same challenges every day.
As for school, the Red Bulls luckily have different systems for you in place. Because they have partnerships with international schools and e-learning courses, also in English, you can find the model that suits you as an athlete best. This is really great, because it´s not easy to combine all the training and travelling with school sometimes.
While playing for the Red Bulls, my standing in the Finnish National Team got better continuously. However, the Finnish style of the game is different to the style they teach at the Academy. Finnish Red Bull coach Teemu Levijoki helped me a lot in that regard. Before and after National Team events, he helped me to understand both styles and adapt to the current situation. At the moment I think my standing in the National Team is quite good and there is already the next big challenge on the horizon. I will be joining the Sioux City Musketeers in the USHL for the 16/17 season. Signing that tender recently was the perfect end to a great season.
Reflecting on the time in Salzburg, I think my fast development was the sum of many parts. Above all, I was surrounded by great coaches. Matthew Deschamps, Teemu Levijoki, and Brian Savage were great with me. We went through a lot of tape, so it was easy to find the things that had to be improved. By giving me a lot of time on ice and allowing me to make mistakes, I could fully learn from the experiences I had made. Facing bigger and stronger opponents additionally playing for the under-20 team also helped me to develop nicely. For the first time of my life, the off-ice strength training was strictly controlled and organized. Every team had a separate strength coach, which I believe is quite unique at that age. We always practiced hard off the ice, but the rhythm of practice times was balanced out nicely, so we were able to play with the full ability and energy. I am sure, this tough but balanced training schedule played a crucial role in me being able to play through a whole season without any injuries for the first time in a long time.
The Academy facilities themselves gave me a chance to train without any distraction. You really have everything you need to practice and concentrate on hockey. I’ve never seen a place like it before and I am not sure if I ever will again. Also Örjan (Haug) became really important to me. He is the best equipment manager in the world. Örjan took care of us in every possible way and always made my skates work perfectly.
I’m forever grateful to the club of EC Red Bull Salzburg. I want to thank all the coaches and staff in the Academy. I really appreciate all the help and opportunities I’ve gotten.
Yours, Sampo
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