Antti Raanta European Player of the Month

Finnish goalie Antti Raanta won the vote with a huge advantage towards the other candidates Josh Bonar, Reto Berra, Chris DiDomenico, Ivan Kasutin and Lauris Darzins.

But who is this month's winner?

The Rauma native Antti Raanta started his career in the youth teams of local top team Lukko. During the 2008-2009 SM-liiga campaign he became member of Lukko's professional team but only played twice on loan for Finland's U20 national team in Mestis, the second division in the Northern European country. During the following two years he convinced as back up goalie and in 2010-11 he won a bronze medal with Lukko before he was signed by his current team Ässät Pori in mid-2011. There he was formed to become one of the strongest talents on his position and played as first goalie during the following two seasons.

Though he did not yet play for the senior national team of his country, this will only be a question of time if his development continues in the right direction.

As Raanta has already attracted the interest of several KHL teams, he might be in the spotlight in Europe's top league in the near future so that an even bigger audience can convince themselves of his abilities.

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