Olli Maatta is a 19-year-old rookie defenseman for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Despite leaving his homeland at the age 0f 16 and being a professional athlete, Maatta is still required to serve in Finland’s armed services.
It is a requirement that all Finland men serve in the army between the ages of 18 and 28. The men must decide if they want to go into the Army, Navy or the Air Force. Maatta has applied to be apart of the Finnish Navy.
“I’m pretty sure I can figure out something,” Maatta said in an interview with the Post-Gazette. “I could do it in like two summers. That might be possible. I’ll see how it goes. They’re really good at [making arrangements]. If you play abroad, it’s not like you have to stay there for six months and miss the season.”
In fact, players are allowed to break up the time if needed, so as to not interfere with their North American hockey schedule.
Maatta is not the first player required to return to Finland to do this sort of thing. His teammate, Jussi Jokinen, served in the early 2000s. Jokinen said joining the military can offer some challenges to maintaining a training regimen as a hockey player.
“You fill out an application for where you want to go,” Maatta said. “It depends on where you go. Some of the stuff – if you go for like me with the navy – you have to stay there for a year and learn more stuff. If you go to the army, it might only be six months. Some of the guys will like it. They might stay there. They might get a job from there.”
Lets hope that Olli can work something out between the Navy and being a part of the Penguins.