BUFFALO, N.Y. – Eeli Tolvanen is hoping to use the high of winning the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship and the low of facing relegation at the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship as a learning experience as he gets set to take the next step in his hockey career.

Last April Tolvanen had a team-leading seven goals and nine points as Finland defeated Sweden 6-1 to capture gold in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Then at the World Juniors Finland, which won gold on home soil in 2016, won just one of four preliminary round games before avoiding relegation by defeating Latvia. Tolvanen finished the tournament with two goals and four assists in the six games.

“It was a tough experience for us,” Tolvanen said. “We went all the way (down) to the relegation games. It wasn’t a good experience for me, but I mean it was kind of fun just to see the world juniors, Montreal is a hockey town so just be around the guys and the atmosphere there was unreal.

“We won the Under-18s last year and went to relegation this year - see both the winning and losing. Now you know how it feels when you go all the way down, the hard times.”

ISS Hockey ranks the 5-foot-11, 189-pound forward 17th overall in its 2017 NHL draft guide. The 18-year-old projects to be a top line sniper at the NHL level. He’s a gifted winger with first line scoring ability.

With the puck on his stick, Tolvanen is one of the most electric players in his age group. He has a pro release on his shot and can shoot it in stride, which is rare for players of his age.

The knock on the Vihti, Finland native is his defensive game, which he’ll need to work on to have success at the next level.

“Good skating winger with a good hockey IQ,” said ISS Hockey scout Jose Charbonneau. “Possess an elite shot and release. Will need to improve his work ethic and bring his compete level higher to be able to play at the NHL level”.

Another area Tolvanen will need to work on is his size, which he’ll have plenty of time to do next season while he attends Boston College.  Tolvanen was drafted 17th overall by the Oshawa Generals at the 2016 Ontario Hockey League draft, but says he’s 100 per cent committed to the Eagles for next season.

“Probably just the great coaching staff,” Tolvanen said of what sold him on Boston College. “A lot of small players like Johnny Gaudreau come from BC and now they’re star players in the NHL. It’s a great city, Boston; it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Tolvanen, who says he intends on studying business at BC, spent this past season with the Sioux City Musketeers of the USHL where he scored a team-leading 30 goals and 24 assists in 52 games.  His 54 points was good for eighth in league scoring.

“(I learned) little things: everyday you’ve got to give it your best shot, it’s your draft year, you have show every game who you are and why you should get drafted,” Tolvanen said of his second season with the Musketeers.

Atte Tolvanen, Eeli’s older brother, was already in North America playing in the NAHL, which made the move overseas easier for him.

“It’s a great hockey league, USHL, there’s a lot of great players,” Tolvanen said. “I just (wanted) to go there, play great hockey and learn the language live by yourself, billet family. You don’t know anybody when you go there and you make a lot of new friends.

“My brother played in the U.S. and NAHL, he told me it’s a great league and there was a couple Finnish guys in the USHL before I went there and they told me a lot of good things about the USHL.”

ISS Hockey lists New Jersey Devils forward Mike Cammalleri as an NHL comparable for Tolvanen, but he prefers to model his game after St. Louis Blues sniper, Vladimir Tarasenko.

“Just the way he shoots, his release is unreal and the way he scores goals in the NHL, it’s not easy,” Tolvanen said. “It’s a high level so just his shot and how he scores almost every game.”

Tolvanen admits he’s a goal-scorer and offensive-minded player, but understands where he needs to improve next season while playing college hockey to one day have a successful NHL career.

“My skating, and of course I’m not the biggest guy so I have to get bigger and stronger,” he said. “Probably just working on my skating and get bigger in the gym.”

DHIREN MAHIBAN