Utunen captured his second gold medal in less than one year after captaining Finland to an IIHF U18 World Championship in April. He has a chance to add another one at the 2020 World Juniors, maybe even as team captain, as he is the only one of the four Canucks prospects in the tournament this year that can return.
The 5-foot-11 defenceman had an up-and-down start to the World Juniors, but as time went on, he became more confident out there, moving his feet more and jumping into the play. It was moving his feet and jumping up in the play that resulted in his only goal of the tournament as he joined the rush in four-on-four overtime, got the puck and snapped it past DiPietro as Finland upset Canada in the quarterfinals.
Utunen finished with one goal, a plus-5 rating and 10 shots on goal in seven games, while averaging 15:39 of ice-time, including a tournament-high 21:57 in the gold medal game.
He will now return to his club team, Tappara, which with 23 games left in the regular season are sitting in third place in the Liiga (also known as the Finnish Elite League). Utunen is averaging just 11:06 with Tappara, collecting one assist in 21 games played so far this season. He is also the youngest defenceman on the team by nine years.