Aleksi and Jesper Peltonen (both class of ‘17) are two Finnish brothers who have played on the Northwood Junior hockey team for three years. In 2014 they moved from Helsinki, Finland to Lake Placid to pursue their goal of playing Division I college hockey in the United States. With lots of hard work and patience, both brothers are set to accomplish their dream with their January 16th announcement of their commitment to attend and play hockey at University of Wisconsin in the fall of 2018.
Aleksi, a forward, has had a very successful career at Northwood along with his fraternal twin brother Jesper, who plays defense. Both brothers are planning to play hockey in the USHL next season.
Their future coach at Wisconsin, Tony Granato, took over behind the Badgers’ bench in March 2016. Granato is a Northwood graduate who was a star forward at Wisconsin University and was later drafted by the Rangers and became a star on the Los Angeles Kings and led them to the Stanley Cup finals in 1993. While playing for the San Jose Sharks, Granato was teammates with Aleksi and Jesper’s father, Ville Peltonen. Mr. Peltonen had an impressive international career, winning four Olympic medals for Finland and winning eight World Championship medals for his country. Granato’s recommendation of Northwood contributed to the twin’s arrival in Lake Placid.
The Peltonen brothers are a great story of two international hockey players who worked to accomplish their dream. Whether the boys have the success that their dad and future coach had is the still-unwritten part of this story, and we look forward to see it unfold.
