Ilves signed an open-ended loan agreement with the NHL´s Anaheim Ducks. In accordance with the agreement Lukáš Dostál, 20, will start the season 2020/21 in Ilves.
After joining Ilves in February 2019 (from HC Kometa Brno) Lukáš Dostál signed a NHL contract with the Anaheim Ducks. Dostál, however, returned to Ilves after the NHL training camp in September 2019. Last season, season 2019/20, his winning percentage 73,2 was the League´s best, goals against average 1,78 the second best and save percentage 92,76 the third best. With the 27 regulation time wins Dostál also lead the League´s goaltending statistics. Moroever, he was awarded the best goaltender of the season 2019/20 in the League.
– Lukáš Dostál is now starting his third season in Ilves. With his personality and skills as well as his attitude and modesty towards ice hockey and his teammates, Lukáš Dostál earned his place within the team already from the day one. He works according to plan. He is both competitive and very goal-oriented. He is an elite-level talent. These core qualities have made it possible for him to pursue a rapid player development, states Timo Koskela, the Sports Manager of Ilves.
Apart from Dostál, also Arttu Ruotsalainen, 22, and Matias Maccelli, 19, continue in Ilves with open-ended loan agreements. All three players have already resumed trainings on Monday 12th of August when the team met again for the first time after the summer break.
– We want to thank you all these players and their respective NHL teams for enabling flexibility in these contracts since they well serve all parties to the agreement in the context of the current, very exceptional, world situation, says Koskela.
Ondřej Roman will join trainings with Ilves after completing his quarantine
Czech forward Ondřej Roman, 31, signed a one-year contract with ilves in June and has now arrived to Tampere. As per to the official coronavirus instructions Roman will join the team for trainings only after completing his quarantine. Thereby, he will be at the disposal of Ilves for pre-season games starting on Wednesday 19th of August.
Ilves´ current player contracts for season 2020/21:
Goaltenders (3)
Lukáš Dostál (with an open-ended loan agreement), Ville Kolppanen (2021), Eetu Mäkiniemi (2021+1)
Defenders (9)
Karri Aho (2022+1), Santeri Airola (2022+1), Aleksi Elorinne (2021+1), Santeri Hatakka (2021+1), Kalle Maalahti (2021), Nikolas Matinpalo (2021), Jarkko Parikka (2021+1), Niko Peltola (2022), Tuomas Salmela (2021+1)
Forwards (16)
Joose Antonen (2021), Joni Ikonen (2022), Joona Ikonen (2022), Roby Järventie (2021+1), Teemu Lepaus (2021), Matias Maccelli (with an open-ended loan agreement), Ville Meskanen (2021+1), Panu Mieho (2022), Miro Nalli (2021+1), Eetu Päkkilä (2021+1), Ondřej Roman (2021), Arttu Ruotsalainen (with an open-ended loan agreement), Antti Saarela (2021+1), Eemeli Suomi (2021), Samuli Vainionpää (2022), Taavi Vartiainen (2022+1)
