The Road To Ranta

Feb 23, 2023

By: Jack Henry

Sampo Ranta is one of the Avalanche’s most exciting prospects. He joined the Avalanche in 2018 but his hockey journey started long before that.

 

Sampo Ranta was born in Finland but played hockey all over the world before his eighteenth birthday. He spent time in the international juniors league, USHL, and three years for the University of Minnesota, where he was awarded first-team all-American as well as won the Big Ten Championship. He describes the process of leaving home saying “I came over here to the states when I was 16, so I was young you know. I was away from home a long way, so I grew up pretty quick, but it’s been fun. I love it here it's like a second home now.”

 

Ranta’s Avalanche journey started in 2018 as he was the club's third-round pick. Ranta had met with Avalanche executives at the NHL Combine, so he was glad to join a familiar team. “I had good meetings with the Avalanche at the combine, and they were one of the teams that I knew liked me, so I was happy to get picked by them.”  

 

Ranta has played in many different hockey leagues, but he acknowledges the step up in competition at the AHL level saying “There’s a lot of good players here. It's fast-paced, there are a lot of games you know, it's pro hockey.” He also noted how well Head Coach, Greg Cronin, and the coaching staff do in preparing the players for this next level saying, “We got a great coaching staff here that’s trying to work us, make us better, and develop us so we get to the NHL, and they do a great job in helping us get there.” Ranta experienced some growing pains as he only cracked the rotation in 14 games in his rookie season, netting 7 points (4G, 3A). His growth is steady however as he played 38 games the next season, accumulating 14 points (7G, 7A). Ranta is having a solid season in his third campaign for the Eagles. He has matched his points of last year with 14 in three fewer games played. With nearly half of the season left to play it's fair to say Ranta is having a breakout season.

 

Rarely do athletes get to reflect on the path that got them to where they are. When asked what advice Ranta would give to a younger version of himself he kept it short and simple saying “just keep shooting the puck.”