Luukkonen had been set to represent Finland in Milan. Instead, an injury in Toronto on Jan. 27 prevented him from fulfilling his Olympic dream.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Finland competes Friday in the semifinals of the men’s Olympic hockey tournament.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was supposed to be there, fighting for a medal for his home country.

“Cheering for the guys, a lot of good friends in that team, and just hoping that they go and win the gold,” the Sabres goaltender said Thursday.

Instead of being in Milan, he’s back in Buffalo, making his way back from injury.

“I don’t even know what the right word is in English, but it’s kind of devastating to know that you can’t make it,” Luukkonen said.

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What he calls a tweak Jan. 27 against Toronto kept Luukkonen not just out of Buffalo’s last five games before the break, but also out fulfilling his lifelong Olympic dream.

“It was really frustrating knowing when it happened that there’s a possibility of missing the Olympics,” Luukkonen said. “Couple of days after that were pretty miserable for me.”

Thursday’s practice was Luukkonen’s first since his injury. It comes a day after he watched Finland win a thrilling a quarterfinal match in Milan. 

While he knows he’ll have to watch their medal pursuit from afar, he also knows back here in Western New York, how important it is to be healthy for this final 25 game playoff push.

I think that’s really the silver lining of this whole unfortunate thing that I’ve been able to kind of take my time with it, and really focus on the rehab and the little bit of time we still have before the games even start is going to be good for me,” Luukkonen said. 

“I think that’s the biggest thing right now for me. What’s kind of keeping me really positive through this whole thing is that. … We have a huge playoff push coming here,” Luukkonen added. “It’s something that’s really special for everybody here.  Of course we want to make it. The whole city wants to make it, so it just keeps you really, really motivated to go back playing again.”