. . .and the save is made by Sarparanta and Finland will clear the zone, up 3 to 2 on Canada late in the third. . . . .Kettunen with it, over to Kunnas, where he'll flip it into the zone. . .Racicot will get there for Canada, but he's bumped off it and ridden into the boards by Turunen, reinforced by Kunnas. He'll play it to Kettunen along the half-boards, who leaves behind back for Turunen. . .Turunen, looking for options, passes it back to the point for Ansikorpi...he'll wind up for the drive--SCOOOOOOORRREEE!!! Antero Ansikorpi with a huge slapshot from the blue line that gets by Hargrove, and that should just about wrap it up as it's now 4 to 2! And just listen to the Finnish fans as their captain is mobbed by his teammates...they can see the cup in their hands now!

I got to meet up with  jake_lioner83 at Anthrocon this year, and we immediately started to hit it off as he is a really awesome guy. I'm guessing it was because I first met him in the staging area for the fursuit parade and I had Antero in full gear, including his Finland jersey...and seeing as how Jake's from Finland, it just naturally clicked. Later I learned he's an artist...and after some more talking, this came out from him. This was the first complex piece that he's ever done where there was a lot of minor details that had to be done right, and I think he did a good enough job on it to say the least!

Here, Antero is representing his country in a major international hockey tournament and from the looks of it, he's just scored the goal that will seal the game for Finland over Canada. (And to my Canadian friends, I still love you guys!) The white lion you see goes by the name of Vesa Turunen...he wears the number 23 and plays center, while Antero is a defenseman and wears number 10. And like his lupine compatriot, Vesa likes to play a rough and physical style where he plays the body, but can also score goals from just about anywhere. But this time, he plays setup man to Antero as he saw that he was open just inside the blue line, and knows that he has one of the hardest slapshots of anyone in the world. Also, where my fursuit jersey has an A on it that depicts him as an alternate captain, I had him put the captain's C on his sweater in this

I should really get more pieces done depicting Antero on the ice...and while I had Jake tuck the front of Vesa's mane into his jersey and shoulder pads, Antero's let his neck fluff come out a bit. Maybe he didn't have time to tuck it in between shifts...who knows? Lemme know how you like it!


Artwork is © to  jake_lioner83

"Antero Ansikorpi" and "Vesa Turunen" are © to  croco