Éric Gélinas collected an assist in his first game with Lukko de Rauma last Saturday in a 4-1 loss to Kiekko Espoo in the Finnish Liiga.
The Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu hockey player provided an assist on Karson Kühlman’s goal in the third period. He made eight shots on goal (the highest total among defensemen) and obtained 18:55 of playing time.
The last few days have been particularly eventful, as he arrived in Rauma on Wednesday after several hours of traveling from Montreal to Helsinki with a stopover in Frankfurt, Germany. It then took him three hours to drive between the Finnish capital and his destination.
“Let’s just say it was a good day of travel,” Éric Gélinas tells us.
The 33-year-old Johannais put on his skates on Thursday for a first session with two other players. And on Friday, he took part in another practice, this time with all his new teammates.
A first match
Éric Gélinas therefore had very little time to adapt to his new environment, since Lukko played a first match on Saturday in Espoo. The team is almost halfway through the season with 28 games on the clock. The regular calendar has 60 games.
“It wasn’t in ideal conditions, but I still did well. The more the match progressed, the more I found my bearings. I felt better and better on the ice,” he says.
Éric Gélinas had more playing time than he expected. “I had agreed with my coach that I would play ten to twelve minutes. In the end, I played almost nineteen of them. I was extremely burned after the match. »
Known for the power of his shots from the blue line, Éric Gélinas almost scored a goal, but his shot hit the horizontal bar. “As a first match, it went well. I wasn’t 100% comfortable and the time to think wasn’t always there, but it will come,” summarizes the 6-foot-4 defender.
Éric Gélinas, who signed an agreement until the end of the season with Lukko, will be back on the ice this weekend with games Friday and Saturday.
