RAPPERSWIL, Switzerland – While the playoffs in Europe’s top national leagues are approaching the final stages, national teams across the continent started their camps in preparation for the 2012 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Finland and Sweden.

Many eyes will be on the Finnish team this year. Finland is not only the defending champion, but will also host this year’s medal games in Helsinki while Stockholm, Sweden, will be the other venue.

“It’s been a while I played the last game,” said Mika Pyörälä during the first camp week for the Finnish lions in Switzerland. “I took a rest for a while and tried to skate a little bit. Then I joined the camp with a lot of new faces.”

Pyörälä was one of four returnees from last year’s gold-winning team that entered the camp early, after an early exit from the playoffs. While he missed the Swedish playoffs with Frölunda Gothenburg last year, he reached at least the quarter-finals this time. But in the first round against second-ranked Brynäs Gävle – which will start the final series against Skellefteå AIK soon – the season came to an end for Frölunda.

“Last season I was with the national team right from the start, so nothing changed for this year. But this season was much better than the year before,” said Pyörälä, who was part of one of the most productive lines in the Swedish Elitserien, the “Nordic Kombination” with Norwegian Mathis Olimb and homegrown Fredrik Pettersson.

“We were more solid and stuck together the whole season. We didn’t change our line. We knew where the other guys were going and could read the game well. We were quite successful, but the playoffs leave the last taste in your mouth and unfortunately we lost in the quarter-finals. It kind of bugged me, but that’s hockey.”

His feelings weren’t different in April 2011 – just a few weeks before he would celebrate the biggest moment of his hockey career.

“The games with Frölunda were a big disappointment last year and I was injured. I was down,” the Oulu native said. “But I did my rehab and the Finnish team called me and asked if I want to try to make the team. First I was thinking about, but then I said yes. And the rest is history. It was a great tournament and a great team and a lot of fun.”

The Finns defeated Norway and Russia in the playoffs before facing archrival Sweden. They defeated Tre Kronor 6-1 in the gold medal game after trailing from 1-0. Pyörälä will never forget the moments after his fourth World Championship he played in.

“We already saw some pictures from Finland when we were in Bratislava, which we got from back home and we thought ‘What have we done?’ It was unbelievable to see 100,000 people in Finland celebrating us,” he said and added with a grin: “Certainly it was easier for me to return to Sweden for this season after we had won the game.”

Now he’s where he was one year ago in April, preparing with the Finnish national team and hoping to write the next chapter. Only a few players from the opening camp roster will survive the cuts and make it to Hartwall Arena when Finland opens the tournament on 4th May against Belarus.

“It’s a long way to the World Championship,” Pyörälä said. “I try to make the impact so that I deserve the spot on the team. But it’s going to be hard. There will be many players from the NHL and the KHL. It would be nice to play in the World Championship on home ice.”

Finland started its preparation with a 3-0 defeat vs. Switzerland in Rapperswil, but one day later they beat the same opponent 3-2 in overtime in Arosa. Pyörälä had an assist while Torpedo Nizhni Novgorod defenceman Juuso Hietanen netted two goals, including the OT winner.

The 30-year-old is looking forward to the World Championship, but knows that it will be a different challenge for Finland than last year in Slovakia.

“It will be much different. There will be a lot of attention from the media and the fans. We will have to handle different kind of things and there will be more pressure. But I think we can handle it as a team,” Pyörälä said.

“I think we have a good chance to defend our title. You never know what’s going to happen.”

However, since the Soviets 1986 in Moscow, no team has managed to win the World Championship on home ice. But Pyörälä doesn’t care about this curse.

“Such records are here to be broken,” he said. “We just have to try to change it.”

MARTIN MERK