Emil Oksanen has been announced as the eighth defenceman to join the Sheffield Steeldogs for the 24/25 season on a three-year deal.
The 19-year-old has spent the past two seasons developing his skills in the Finnish first and second division junior leagues with Kiekko-Espoo Challenger side.
Last year in the Under-20s Mestis – the second division – he played 21 games where he managed three assists for the team based 25km from Helsinki.
He now becomes the fifth player aged under 20 to join the Steeldogs this season as they aim to have a big part of developing young British talent, especially with their goal of becoming a strong pathway to the Sheffield Steelers of the EIHL.
In the official announcement, Head Coach Slava Koulikov described Oksanen as someone with “a bright future ahead”.
“For someone so young, he already shows impressive maturity and skill on the ice”.
Born in London, Oksanen started his junior career with the Stretham Ice Hockey club playing in their junior system and getting his first taste of senior hockey at just 16-years-old.
In the 2022/23 season he would play in the British third and fourth divisions, NIHL1 with the Streatham Redhawks and NIHL2 with the Streatham Blackhawks and he would go onto win the NIHL South league and playoff title playing 15 games along the way.
Bolstering his already strong junior resume, he has been a part of two Great Britain national team squads, first in 2022 for the Under-16s and most notably in 2024 as part of the GB U18 World Championship squad.
That year GB took part in the Division 2A competition in Sosnowiec, Poland, where they would finish second, just missing out on promotion to the hosts.
Oksanen wouldn’t record a point in the competition but would have a goal plus/minus of +5 highlighting his defensive prowess.
Now the young Brit will look to continue his development in a system which is looking to be the benchmark for pushing through British players into the top division of professional hockey in the UK – the Elite League (EIHL).
