Welcome to the family

MONTREAL - Joel Armia and his girlfriend, Emilia Harjunen, recently welcomed a brand new member of the family into their downtown Pori apartment.

The Finnish couple picked up their beloved puppy, Otso, last week near Turku. He's a two-month-old Lagotto Romagnolo.

"We've been talking about getting a dog for probably four years now, but I think it was probably like 10 games into the season that we really started looking into it and we decided to get one," said Armia, who returned to his hometown from Montreal about two weeks after the NHL officially went on pause on March 12. "A couple of Emilia's friends have the same breed, so we decided to get one, too. It also doesn't shed, which is nice. They're fun dogs and they look good."

What makes Otso particularly special, though? According to the American Kennel Club (AKC), Lagotto Romagnolo are "rugged workers of true strength and endurance." They're commonly known as Italy's "truffle dog" for their unique ability to detect the edible fungi underground.

The AKC even lists the Lagotto Romagnolo as "the only purebred dog in the world recognized as a specialized truffle searcher."

But Armia and Harjunen really appreciate his energetic and affectionate demeanor.

"It's kind of whenever you play with him and look after him, you forget everything else for a moment. It's fun to watch him cruise around the house. It's been only positive things," praised Armia. "He's been following us around wherever we go, from one room to the next. It's kind of cool. It seems like he could be really smart, too, so let's hope so."

Otso's name is rather distinct. It literally means "bear" in Finnish, and Otso are labelled the "Kings of the Forests" in Finnish mythology as well.

When the 26-year-old right-winger isn't hanging with his pup, he's training close by.

He splits his indoor workouts between a makeshift gym about 10 minutes from his home and a secondary training area at his parents' place.

"I have this little garage where Emilia's dad built this little gym. He sells gym equipment, which is helpful. He put all the equipment in there. I've been working out by myself with all the training programs from our guys in Montreal. It's been good having the normal training rhythm in your life. I'd say the gym has everything I need, but you also use your imagination a bit," explained Armia. "At my parents' house, I also have this little basement thing where I've been doing a lot of shooting and stickhandling work. I've had that setup forever. That's where I spent a lot of my childhood."

The six-year NHL veteran is also taking full advantage of the outdoors to stay in shape both physically and mentally by running in the woods and enjoying the fresh air.

He's hungry to train after putting up a career-high 16 goals and 30 points in 58 games, and eager to build on that whenever hockey finally resumes.

"It was a pretty good season, but honestly I kind of wanted to do even better. That's probably a good thing that you have more hunger to do better and you're training towards it," insisted Armia. "I want to be better, too. You never know what's going to happen with the situation right now, so you can only wait and see. I'm just doing the normal things I do every day training-wise and shooting pucks."

Aside from chilling with Otso during his downtime, the former first-round selection is playing "Call of Duty: Warzone" with some of his buddies when his schedule permits.

He's genuinely hooked on the battle royale video game at the moment.

"You kind of lose track of time sometimes when you have way too much fun playing," joked Armia. "I don't know how many hours I spend with that, but sometimes way too much."

Catching up on Netflix hits like "Money Heist" and the brand new season of "Ozark" have also kept the Canadiens' sniper busy as well, along with his culinary duties.

"I like to cook a lot. Now, you have time to cook. I love all kinds of food. I like homemade pizzas a lot. We'll mix it up all the time. A basic margherita pizza is really good. We made a kale pizza a couple of days ago. There isn't just one favorite," revealed Armia. "We're just switching it up all the time, seeing what we have in the fridge and just using the ingredients. At my summer house, we usually do make pizza with an open fire and it's great."

While fellow Pori native Jesperi Kotkaniemi won't be joining Armia and Harjunen for dinner anytime soon because of social distancing regulations, they have seen each other on a few occasions.

"It's been pretty similar to seeing anyone else, just a quick "hi"," mentioned Armia. "Even when I see my family, I'm not hanging out there for too long. I'm just seeing them for a quick little bit."