Hockey Club Lugano announces that it has reached an agreement with Finnish top league club SaiPa Lappeenranta for the loan of goalkeeper Juho Markkanen until the end of the 2021/22 championship.
Born on 06.04.2002 in Edmonton (Canada), Juho Markkanen is the son of Jussi Markkanen, a former fullback for the Edmonton Oilers, the New York Rangers, the Finnish national team and in the years between 2009 and 2013 for Zug.
For this reason, Juho holds a Swiss licence and will therefore not affect the contingent of foreign players.
Growing up in SaiPa's youth sector, Juho was drafted in 2020 in the fourth round (112th overall) by the Los Angeles Kings, played in his country's U20 national team, and this season has appeared fifteen times in the Liiga defending SaiPa's first team goal.
He will reach Ticino in the next few days and begin preparation with the rest of the first team bianconera on Monday, February 7.
GM Hnat Domenichelli said:
"Today it is very difficult to have certainties about when Niklas Schlegel and Davide Fadani will be able to return to competition after their injuries last week. That is why it is important for the coaching staff to have three goalkeepers available who are able to play the final phase of the Regular Season and the Post Season. Chris must be able to choose freely every night whether to have two Swiss goalkeepers in the line-up or to field a foreign goalkeeper. We are happy, in the last day still possible for the Swiss player market, to have found a solution with Juho Markkanen who is a talented young man with a Swiss licence".