Kasperi Kapasen ja Matleena Laakson rakkaustarina: Miten Instagram-viesteistä kasvoi elinikäinen liitto

Picture this: You’re lounging beneath palm trees in Dubai, with more iced coffee than romantic chemistry in your life. The heat is dry, life is busy, and love? Well, love seems like someone else’s storyline. Then—ping. Your phone lights up. It’s a message from Kasperi Kapanen, the Finnish NHL star with a name you may as well have dreamed up yourself.

He may have fallen on the ice before, but at this moment, he’s about to stumble into your heart.

Sound like a modern Cinderella tale? It kind of is. But this one isn’t just a fling brewed in an Instagram inbox. This is the story of Matleena and Kasperi—two lives that swiped into orbit and never looked back.

Where It All Started

Matleena Laakso isn’t your average Instagram user. She’s a former figure skater, sharp-minded economic analyst, and occasionally a social media personality with just enough sparkle to keep things interesting—but not enough to make it her career. She recently opened up to Helsingin Sanomat about how a simple “like” sprouted into a love story that leapt across continents and ice rinks.

It began subtly, as these things often do. A few Instagram messages from Kapanen here and there, nothing over the top. But slowly, like overtime in a tied game, momentum built.

Soon, they were texting from morning till night—syncing their schedules across time zones, talking during every shared moment of wakefulness.

”Every time we were both awake, we were talking,” Matleena recalls. “It just clicked.”

From Texts to Time Zones

At the time, she was living in Dubai—a city of gleaming towers and luxury, where the ice exists mostly in cocktails, not rinks. Kapanen, playing then for the Pittsburgh Penguins in the NHL, invited her to visit.

Now, you might expect their first meeting to involve candlelight, champagne, maybe a rooftop view. But their real-life love story started more humbly—over steaming oats and yogurt.

”He wanted to make sure I felt comfortable,” Matleena says with a smile.

Because nothing says “keeper” quite like customized oatmeal over morning small talk.

Love by Instinct

And maybe that’s the magic: it didn’t feel like a fairytale, it felt real.

Soon after, Matleena decided to leave the UAE behind and move in with Kapanen. No dramatic soul-searching, no pros and cons list.

”I didn’t doubt it for a second,”

she says. The kind of brave leap only love—or something just as wild—can inspire.

The Proposal

Their connection kept deepening, and then came December 24th.

On Christmas Eve, when hearts are soft and fairy lights blur into something emotional, Kapanen proposed. Matleena shared a photo slideshow that looked stolen from a Nicholas Sparks film—ring, joy, a soft snowy glow. A life being built in real time, one milestone at a time.

A New Chapter in Edmonton

Today, the couple lives in Edmonton, Canada. Kapanen now belongs to the Oilers, and Matleena is navigating a new life chapter alongside him. And here’s the thing: In an age where romances often begin with emojis and end with ghosting, Matleena and Kasperi’s story reminds us of something deeper.

That yes, even in the swipe-right society we live in, something lasting and true can emerge from a direct message—if both people are willing to dive, heart-first, into the unknown.

Love, Real and Refreshing

• No over-the-top first date, just oatmeal.
• No doubts, just a one-way ticket across the world.
• No games, just instant connection.

So no, it’s not just a story of a hockey player and an ex-skater. It’s a reminder that sometimes, love really does sneak in when you least expect it. And sometimes, it doesn’t begin with fireworks—but with a bowl of oats.

We’ll stay tuned to see what happens next. If their chemistry on camera is any indication, their wedding plans—and married life—should be one for the books. Because this isn’t the end of their fairytale.

It’s just the first period.