Nurmi was playing left wing on KooKoo’s top line in their 11-3 defeat against JYP in the U16 league. Despite his team being dominated badly, Nurmi was able to show in flashes why he is one of the best players in his age group in Finland. He displayed a fluid and powerful stride for his size. On the power play, the 14-year-old was often the one carrying the puck through the neutral zone with speed.

Nurmi was also regularly killing penalties, and he managed to score off of a short-handed breakaway in the third period. He also got a primary assist by deking through a defender off of a rush and setting up his linemate for an easy goal with a royal road pass. Like the whole team, Nurmi spent a lot of time in the defensive zone and without the puck, and I felt that he could have had a lot more success with better linemates, as he often had to try to do pretty much everything by himself.