Heikki Ruohonen isn’t taking the traditional path for a Finnish player aspiring to reach the NHL.

He could have played in Liiga, his country’s top pro league, and done so with comfortable surroundings.

But he instead chose to pursue an education in America. Oh, and not just any school.

Harvard.

“Most of the national team guys from Finland, they go play Liiga,” Ruohonen said over a month ago at Flyers development camp. “I’m pretty much the only one going the NCAA route.”

A unique course. And a commendable one.

“I always saw myself coming to North America,” the Flyers’ 2024 fourth-round draft pick said. “My childhood dream is to play in the NHL and I just saw it as it’s a smaller rink and North American style of hockey is a bit different. So I just wanted to get used to it as soon as I could.

“I’ve always been pretty good in school, so I was in between the CHL and college route. But school has always been pretty easy for me, so I decided to use that opportunity.”

Ruohonen will play for the USHL’s Dubuque Fighting Saints this season before heading to Harvard in 2025-26. He liked what he heard from Crimson goaltender Aku Koskenvuo, who is from Finland. The 18-year-old center appreciated the esteemed academics and the history of Harvard sending players to the pros. The Crimson have produced NHLers like Adam Fox, Alex Killorn, Alexander Kerfoot, Jimmy Vesey and John Marino.

“School has been pretty easy for me, so that’s why I wanted to go the NCAA route,” Ruohonen said. “I always thought when I was younger, ‘Is the hockey going to be as good as pro leagues in Europe?’ But then you see like 20 guys [from college] jump into the NHL every year, so that pretty much sums it up.”

Playing at the junior level in Finland last season, Ruohonen had 47 points (20 goals, 27 assists) and a plus-19 rating over 37 games for Kiekko-Espoo. He also represented Finland at the 2024 IIHF U-18 World Junior Championship, putting up five points (three goals, two assists) and a plus-4 rating in five games.

As a 6-foot-2, 204-pound center, he likes to watch Aleksander Barkov, a Finnish product who has won two Selke Trophies and a Stanley Cup with the Panthers.

“I’m a two-way, hard-working forward,” Ruohonen said. “I skate pretty fast up and down the ice, I like to play physical. I think I can play every situation.”

The Flyers hope they addressed their organizational deficiency down the middle of the ice by using three of their first four picks this summer on centers. Along with Ruohonen, they drafted Jett Luchanko in the first round and Jack Berglund in the second.

Ruohonen believes his game will translate well to the North American-sized ice sheet.

“That’s also one of the reasons I wanted to come, I think I can play physical and fast here in the smaller rink,” he said. “I think that fits the smaller rink even better than European style of play.”