Michael Garteig’s career has already taken him to many places, but this next venture is taking him across the Atlantic to Scandinavia.
The Prince George goaltender has signed a one-year contract with Tappara, a team in Finland part of SM-Liiga, or what is known around the world as the Finnish Elite League.
This comes two weeks after he led the Newfoundland Growlers, in their inaugural season, to their first-ever ECHL Kelly Cup, becoming Canada’s first team to capture North American hockey’s ‘AA’ championship.
Garteig said in an earlier interview with PrinceGeorgeMatters that he had some teams from North America and Europe approach him during Newfoundland’s playoff run.
“As a goalie, there’s only so many spots on a team that you can play, and for me, every year of pro hockey it seems like I’ve been thinking ‘I don’t know if I can do this again,’” he explained. “It’s a grind of trying to get to the NHL and I’m getting older. I think a lot of teams were watching that playoff run. So that’s something that I’ve worked very hard for in the last few years, to find that opportunity to play forward. I’ve re-invented myself a little bit and that's exciting.”
The 27-year-old collected 16 wins in 23 playoff games for the Growlers, recording three shutouts, a 2.19 goals-against-average (GAA), and a .928 save-percentage (SV%) in the process.
Tappara, Finnish for Battle Axe, is one of 15 teams in Liiga, and recently won the bronze-medal series in the 2019 playoffs.
The team made the finals for six straight years between 2011-12 and 2017-18, winning back-to-back championships in 2016 and 2017.
Notable alumni for Tappara includes current NHLers Patrik Laine, Aleksander Barkov, and Justin Braun.
Very excited for this next chapter 🇫🇮 https://t.co/sglfSQ88tv
— Michael Garteig (@michaelgarteig) June 19, 2019
