Menu:

The Book

Shooting from the lip

June 9, 2010:
"If you're going to play this position you have to have a short memory because you're going to give up goals no matter what you do."

-- Antti Niemi

Link of the week

June 9, 2010:
ristopakarinen.com

Read more...

What:

My name is Puckarinen, and this is my blog. Contact: risto at ristopakarinen dot com.

Team up:

Get the feed RSS Feed

Share



Add to Google

Read:

® Risto
® Off The Post
® MTV3 (FI)

® THN, Eye on Europe
® NHL
® IIHF

Listen:

® Subscribe in iTunes
® In browser

Stanley goes Method

Jun 29, 2010 by RistoP | Comment here | Lighter side | Send to a buddy

In character, Vanity Fair style:

Talkin' to me?

Euro League IV: A new hope

Jun 09, 2010 by RistoP | Comment here | Europe | Send to a buddy

If you’re a European hockey fan, you may want to circle September 9, 2012 in your calendar.

That is the rumored launch date for a new pan-European professional hockey league, that has its foundation in the existing major European leagues. According to both Swedish, Finnish, and German sources, teams are discussing things, but nothing specific has yet been officially announced.

The ZSC Lions could, but the CHL didn't last. Can the clubs do it on their own?
Cont.

NHL.com: A sleep-deprived nation cheers for its heroes

Jun 08, 2010 by RistoP | Comment here | NHL | Send to a buddy

Here's one from NHL.com. Click here if you want to see it as is in the wild, or keep reading below.

Back in the day, when Finns dominated the world’s car racing circuit, an adage was born: "You need a Finn to win." It hasn't been as apt in the NHL, with only seven Finnish Stanley Cup winners, and with the first three earning their rings with the same team, the Edmonton Oilers dynasty of the 1980s.

No words.


Cont.

Stanley Cup Magic

Jun 04, 2010 by RistoP | Comment here | Hockey | Send to a buddy

Here's one from the archives, from the pages of Off The Post. A story about Father, Son, and the Stanley Cup.

And now he'll never win it.

Cont.

Andy Niemi

May 28, 2010 by RistoP | Comment here | NHL | Send to a buddy

Finnish goaltender Antti Niemi is one of the big stories in this year's Stanley Cup Playoffs. I wrote a piece about him for The Hockey News June 7 issue:
"One day, my father called me to tell me he had been at the local rink to see a junior game and had seen a goalie that impressed him," said Markus Lehto, Niemi's Helsinki-based European agent. "My father is no super scout, but he used to be the CEO of another rink and a team manager with Jokerit, so he knows his hockey."
Still, when his father mentioned "Antti Niemi," Lehto thought his dad was kidding. The only Antti Niemi he knew was the Finnish national soccer team's goalkeeper. But Lehto made a note and went to see the kid.
Read the story here (pdf, 3.1MB).

Antti Niemi, the hockey goalie.


IIHF World Championship 2010

May 04, 2010 by RistoP | Comment here | Worlds | Send to a buddy

I will be covering the World Championships in Germany, starting on Thursday, May 6. For the duration of the tournament, please join me at www.ristopakarinen.com where I will post photos, links, and writing, from this side of the mixed zone. And maybe some from the other side.

You can also follow me on Twitter.

Let's play hockey.

Opposites attract

Apr 25, 2010 by RistoP | Comment here | Lighter side | Send to a buddy

Should be good. (So must be too good to be true). :)
93?


IIHF.com: Long and winding road

Apr 18, 2010 by RistoP | Comment here | Elitserien | Send to a buddy

STOCKHOLM – A Game 7 of a best-of-seven series surely is the ultimate showdown, but a final round of a round-robin series can be just as nerve -racking and exciting, just as long as the stakes are high. And that’s exactly what they were on the last day of the Swedish qualification series when Rögle and AIK Stockholm were after the one remaining spot in Elitserien next season.

Back.
Cont.

IIHF.com: The pride of Stockholm

Apr 01, 2010 by RistoP | Comment here | Elitserien | Send to a buddy

STOCKHOLM – The fans were opposed to the move back to the bigger Globe arena, citing the better atmosphere in Hovet as the reason. The fans didn’t like Djurgården’s idea of handing out red T-shirts to people so that they would make up a formidable Red Sea in the stands, because the fans wanted to have their own ideas. The fans didn’t like the fact that Djurgården wanted to play in red sweaters in the first place, because “to them, Djurgården is always blue”.

But as long as the team’s winning, the fans don’t care.

Hardy Hardy
Cont.

IIHF.com: Teemu's smilestone

Mar 22, 2010 by RistoP | Comment here | NHL | Send to a buddy

Selänne scores 600th NHL goal as the third European player

STOCKHOLM – Teemu Selänne, the Finnish forward who a month ago became the all-time Olympic scoring leader, added another milestone to his resumé when he scored once in the Anaheim Ducks’ game against the Colorado Avalanche, and became the 18th player, and third European, to get to 600 regular season goals.

Another Crazy 8
Cont.

IIHF.com: There's no 'I' in Falk

Mar 15, 2010 by RistoP | Comment here | Elitserien | Send to a buddy

STOCKHOLM – Between all great goalies, wonderful snipers, and the smooth-skating defencemen that continually push the game forward, and the grinders and the power forwards who give it another dimension, there’s another group of players that are just as special in their own right, and who personify the will to do anything to win.

But he doesn't type, or do windows.
Cont.

IIHF.com: Vatanen races to the top

Mar 06, 2010 by RistoP | Comment here | SM-liiga | Send to a buddy

JYP’s 18-year-old defenceman breaks rookie record in Finland.

JYVÄSKYLÄ, Finland – Finland, like many European nations, seems to fall into despair with regular intervals. The past, looking back, always so glorious, and the future, unknown and scary. Sure, the Finnish national team came home - in a figure of speech as only three players returned to Helsinki airport after the tournament, and all three had connecting flights to catch - with a bronze medal, but who can Teemu Selänne, Saku Koivu, Sami Salo, Kimmo Timonen, Jere Lehtinen, and Ville Peltonen pass the torch to?

The Kid from Finland.
Cont.

Please sign

Feb 02, 2010 by RistoP | 1 assist | Hockey | Send to a buddy

Last weekend, I was in Minsk, Belarus, to see the Russian KHL’s All-Star Game. After the game, I was standing in the mixed zone, listening to former NHLer Ville Peltonen, also a Finnish national hero thanks to his hat trick in a World Championship final against Sweden in 1995, when some fans showed up.

They said, “pleez, pleez” and gave Peltonen some small flags, posters, and a pen. He said, “sure,” and signed a half a dozen autographs, and posed for a few photos.

(Some of my colleagues thought it was such a no-no that the KHL should be fined, but my story’s not going there).

I did find my Olympus in the end.
Cont.

IIHF.com: It’s Petrasek’s time

Jan 21, 2010 by RistoP | 1 assist | Elitserien | Send to a buddy

JÖNKÖPING, Sweden – A beard is a funny thing. We’ve all seen all kinds of playoff beards over the years, from a few hairs to a full-facial hair masks, à la Henrik Zetterberg.

A beard also changes the way a person looks and by the time any playoff season comes to the final series, the players have transformed. It takes time, so the difference is most obvious only the day after, or a few days after the last final, when the players show up to a parade all clean-shaven.

Petrasek's having a career year.

Cont.

IIHF.com: Nobody does it better

Jan 09, 2010 by RistoP | Comment here | SM-liiga | Send to a buddy

All-time record seals Janne Ojanen’s place in Finnish hockey history.

TAMPERE – All-time records can be double-edged swords. On one hand, they are the true testament to the player’s impact to the sport, and a proof of excellence over a long period of time. On the other, they also often get dismissed because the player in question, the one breaking the record, is almost without exception not the same player as he was in his prime. (Martin Brodeur may be an exception.)

Number Eight.

Cont.

Saku Koivu to captain Finland in Vancouver

Dec 30, 2009 by RistoP | Comment here | Finland | Send to a buddy

Sixteen years ago, Team Finland entered the Olympic tournament with anticipation. It had finished seventh, after it beat France in the game for 7th place, a disappointment for a country that had won its first Olympic medal in Calgary, four years earlier.

Cont.

Blast from the past

Dec 28, 2009 by RistoP | Comment here | Hockey | Send to a buddy

One from the archives:

The first Winter Classic between the Buffalo Sabres and the Pittsburgh Penguins was such a great success, and such a marketing kick for the sport, that it’s no wonder there will be a sequel to that. And this time there’s reason to believe that the sequel might even out-do the original.

A true classic
Cont.

Walk this way?

Dec 13, 2009 by RistoP | 2 assists | Hockey | Send to a buddy

Dear Hannes,

Last night after you’d fallen asleep, I had one of my hockey games again. We lost, which is never fun, but I scored a goal which is always fun, so all in all, it was more fun than not.

Skating is so much fun. When I was eight or nine, a little older than you now, I used to dream that it’d get so cold in Helsinki that all the streets would freeze over and I could skate to school. Skating was so much more fun that walking, or running. (For some reason, inlines don't do it for me).

But I did have to to walk to school and back. If I didn't walk with my best friend, I was always kicking pieces of snow and ice, and after school I’d play ball.

One game at a time.
Cont.

IIHF.com: An artist arrives

Dec 12, 2009 by RistoP | Comment here | SM-liiga | Send to a buddy

HELSINKI – This is exactly the way it wasn’t supposed to be. Jokerit Helsinki had announced that, having had first Doug Shedden and then Glen Hanlon behind the bench, and a string of failed imports on the roster – and several superstars, like Glen Metropolit, and Tim Thomas – this season, they would be an all-Finnish team.

Dont blink.
Cont.

IIHF.com: Too Hot To Handle

Nov 20, 2009 by RistoP | Comment here | KHL | Send to a buddy

MOSCOW – In 2008, Linköpings HC shocked its fans when it announced that it had rented its three star players, Magnus Johansson, Tony Mårtensson, and Mattias Weinhandl, to the KHL. Johansson went to Atlant Mytishchi, Mårtensson to Ak Bars Kazan, and Weinhandl to Dynamo Moscow.

The dynamo of Dynamo.
Cont.

Modo gets heart transplant

Nov 17, 2009 by RistoP | 1 assist | Elitserien | Send to a buddy

ÖRNSKÖLDSVIK, Sweden – Peter Forsberg has crashed a few nets in his time, but on Monday, he - together with a lifelong buddy, Markus Näslund - crashed the Modo Hockey web server when it was announced that both of them would return to the team this season.

Cont.

Phoenix

Nov 16, 2009 by RistoP | Comment here | Lighter side | Send to a buddy

On the move, again?

Monday is a fun day at Puckarinen's

IIHF.com: Always the bridesmaid

Nov 11, 2009 by RistoP | Comment here | Worlds | Send to a buddy

HELSINKI – All the Finns really ever wanted was a medal. The country had made its debut in the international stage at the 1939 World Championship in Basel, Switzerland, finished 13th, and then went to war. The real kind.

Photo: Finnish Hockey Museum / Hannu Lindroos
Cont.

Yeah!

Nov 10, 2009 by RistoP | Comment here | Hockey | Send to a buddy



Let''s play hockey.

NHLPA

Nov 10, 2009 by RistoP | Comment here | Lighter side | Send to a buddy

Puckarinen's hockey news from a parallel universe.

Contract covers 2020-2021 season.


The finest Hennessy

Nov 06, 2009 by RistoP | Comment here | North America | Send to a buddy

Russ Cohen reports from the other side of the Atlantic. He's been to the chocolate town, and has seen the future of Milk Duds. And so much more.

Including Reijo Ruotsalainen.

Cont.

Karjala Cup

Nov 06, 2009 by RistoP | Comment here | Europe | Send to a buddy

Fall break! Wooohooo!! Well, the national team breaks that bring the European leagues to a halt a couple of times a season aren’t exactly the time to hop on a plane to Florida. They’re there to give the top nations a chance to play their friendly games in markets where the national teams sell, and sell well.

Also, Bednar got Forsberg's stick after the game against Sweden
Cont.

Always something

Nov 02, 2009 by RistoP | Comment here | Lighter side | Send to a buddy

Introducing a new segment on Puckarinen where Mondays are fun days.

News from another hockey world.

And Puckarinen is still next to "puckhead".


Golden Näslund

Oct 30, 2009 by RistoP | 1 assist | Legends | Send to a buddy

STOCKHOLM – We all love winners, and many books have been written about what exactly makes a winner, without a definite answer. They come in all shapes and sizes, and they come from the east and the west. They’re nice guys and they’re tough guys, and they’re forwards, defencemen and goalies.

Looking at a young player, it can be difficult to predict, or tell, who the true winners will be. They’re competitors, sure, but a lot of people compete without winning. There’s something special about the players who always seem to be able to win.

Naturally, they’re easy to spot after the fact - just look at their records - but none as easy as Mats Näslund, the former Tre Kronor and Montreal Canadiens star, who turns 50 on Saturday.

Diminutive forward.

Cont.

Detroit of Russia

Oct 23, 2009 by RistoP | Comment here | KHL | Send to a buddy

Or maybe Phoenix. This just in:
The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), closely watching the financial situation of the Lada Togliatti hockey club, adopted measures aimed at supporting the team. The decision to provide financial assistance to Lada was made by KHL President Alexander Medvedev, and the KHL Board of Directors endorsed his proposal at its recent meeting on October 17, 2009.

In accordance with the decision of the KHL Board of Directors, the KHL sent funds to Lada totaling approximately 17 million rubles (USD 580,000) to assist with operating expenses for the 2009-2010 season.
It ain't easy being a superpower.