A series of injuries thrust goaltender Antti Raanta into the spotlight for the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks.
It's a position with a lot of pressure, especially for a rookie, but Raanta can draw on the pressure he faced while serving in the Finnish army - something that has made him quite popular with his teammates.
"He spent a lot time out in the woods, in the bush, out there," defenseman Sheldon Brookbank told The Chicago Sun-Times. "Sounds like he had a good time."
Raanta was never involved in live combat situations but has plenty of tales from drills and war games, like the time he was leading a tank through a minefield and got lost, "killing" his entire company.
"It was kind of a fiasco," Raanta said. "Everybody blew up, all the leaders in our army. We saw the tank blow up first, and I was like, 'Oh, [expletive].' We came over as fast as we could. But then we drove over another mine, so we died also."
Raanta - apparently a crack shot with a rocket-propelled grenade - has performed admirably in Chicago's crease with Corey Crawford and Nikolai Khabibulin sidelined. The 24-year-old is 6-1-1 with a .915 save percentage in nine games, making his case to stick around once Crawford and Khabibulin return.