Puckarinen

(via On Frozen Blog)

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).

Cont.

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.

Cont.

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.

Cont.

Let''s play hockey.

On Wednesday, September 30, 2009, on the day that the NHL teams had to file their rosters, and make the final cuts, Mats Sundin announced his retirement at the Grand Hotel in Stockholm, Sweden. Grand Hotel is the hotel where the Nobel Prize laureats spend their time in Stockholm when they come to town to collect the award in December. That’s where the stars stay when in Stockholm. Across a small bay, there is the Royal Palace where the King of Sweden has his office.

Some 15 kilometers north of Grand Hotel, there is Edsbacka krog, one of two restaurants with two Michelin stars in Sweden. The inn is in the heart of Sollentuna, next to the Edsbergs castle, which in turn overlooks Edsviken, the Baltic Sea bay, a beautiful public park where Swedes go for picnics, and walks and runs, and, on the other side of the water, a hockey arena.


Cont.

Guest writer Russ Cohen on what happened to Crosby's old linemate:

The LNAH is a league that I wrote about a few years ago. I accidentally ran across Guillaume Lefebvre who was drafted by the Flyers and now he was the lone scorer on a team of fighters. He said he was playing there so he could go to law school. He was saving his money. I’m not sure that was the real reason since he played for the Springfield Falcons last year amassing 206 PIMS and likely getting his last taste of pro hockey. Now Dany Roussin, who was once a star for the Rimouski Oceanic, and a one-time linemate of Sidney Crosby is heading down that same path.


Cont.

A part of hockey’s lure has to be in the equipment. There’s something magical in the ritual of putting on all that gear that looks nothing like anything in the real world. Nothing.

Gloves are so padded that when the players do the now-ubiquitous gloved hand-clap to thank the fans after a game, it looks bizarre, unnatural. Same goes for the helmet, the socks (yeah, right), and the pants.

When I was four years old, following my father to hockey games in Helsinki, I was fascinated by goalies who, to me, looked like freaks of nature. I mean, where did these people live? I had never seen such creatures - with their wide legs, their chubby upper bodies, and their big, blocky hands - out on the streets.


Cont.

The International Ice Hockey Federation just can’t get love anywhere. The NHL-IIHF transfer agreement was let to expire a few years ago and a new one never materialized, and many countries have cut their own deals with the NHL. The Champions Hockey League it started for the club champions in the top leagues is “on a hiatus”, after the original investors pulled the plug after just one season - despite their three-year agreement to finance the league.

Cont.

Russ Cohen, co-author of 100 Ranger Greats, out in September, joined forces with Puckarinen as the two take the hockey world's temperature. For more, see also Russ's Sportsology site.

But first, keep reading.


Cont.

The first game of the season is like a class reunion. You’ll see a lot of people you know, some better than the others, you’ll like some better than others, but you’re all back together again.

It was nice to have a break, and go off on your own, but it’s nice to be back again. People look the same, but yet, not really. Somebody’s lost some weight, another one picked it up. Somebody’s sitting - or with exhibition games in Sweden, often standing - in his old spot, but his buddy isn’t there. The beat reporters are here, sitting together, except for that one man, the short and chubby one.

Cont.

And the fairytale was complete. Sidney Crosby hoisted the Cup,as the youngest captain to do so, then everybody else got their turn to kiss it. Then The Kid gave it to Mario, the man behind pretty much every success the Penguins have ever had.

The story even had an injured star in Crosby, and unsung hero in Talbot, a former prodigy's revenge in Fleury, and so many other little details. The symbolism is never as vivid as right at the end when Nicklas Lidström had a chance to tie the game with just seconds remaining, but Fleury threw his body in front of the puck, making the last save of the game - before checking the clock and realizing he had just become the Stanley Cup champion.

It was worth getting up in the middle of the night.

The Penguins began their season right here in Stockholm in October and while Michel Therrien may disagree, the Penguins also beat the European curse. In October, Marc-Andre Fleury's English was still a little rusty after a long summer, and he told one reporter after the first game, "I'l call you when I think of the word."

Yesterday, he seemed speechless for other reasons.

Conn Smyther Trophy winner Evgeni Malkin didn't speak much in Stockholm. Or at all. Yesterday, he was bubbly delirious of happiness, and his post-game interview probably should have been beeped half a dozen times times, but he was saved by his irresistible charm and heavy accent.

I hope the Magnitogorsk native takes the Cup to is hometown in the summer to give the local fans a boost of faith after Metallurg's disappointing season during which they got ousted in the KHL semifinals, and lost the Champions Hockey League final against ZSC Lions Zürich.

Another thing that seems to have come to the end of the road is the CHL. According to the latest buzz, the IIHF will cancel the 2009-10 CHL season next week, but will try to get the league back on track for the 2010-11 season.

Oh, you'd need to be fluent in Finnish to get this.



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