Congratulations to Peter Kotilainen, IWGA Athlete of the Month for December 2016. The 22-year-old forward won the International Floorball Federation (IFF) Men's World Championship as a member of the Finnish team. The squad from Finland defeated their rivals Sweden 4-3 after a dramatic penalty shoot-out at the Arena Riga in Latvia.
After the final, he was selected as the “Most Valuable Player” of the Tournament, and received the ASICS Golden Shoe MVP Trophy from John Liljelund, Secretary General of the IFF. The right-winger scored two goals in the final, ensuring that Finland twice levelled the lead of Sweden (2-0, 3-2). During the World Championship, Peter Kotilainen scored ten goals and gained six points as an assist, making him the best scorer at this year’s event and a member of the All-Star-Team.
Peter Kotilainen was born in Jyväskylä, Finland. He has played for most of his league career in Happee, Jyväskylä. He played his first league match in the 2010-2011 season with Happee. The young floorball star took also took part in the Champions Cup and in both the Men’s and U19 Euro Floorball Tours.
Kotilainen is a real character on & off the rink. Finland’s national team’s head coach Petri Kettunen has described him as a “child of nature” and his team mates agree – adding other adjectives to the list such as “unique” and “golden”.
