Puckarinen

"Country roads / take me home / to the place / I belong…"

The day started at a country road, and it ended fittingly with Niklas Hjalmarsson singing John Denver's "Country Roads." But in the young Swede's case, those roads were not West Virginia, but the heart of Smaland -- "small lands" -- in the heart of Sweden.

Before the Cup got back into its travel case, on its way to Antti Niemi, Hjalmarsson gave it a whirlwind tour of places and emotions.

Happy places and happy emotions.



NHL.com, or below.
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The Stanley Cup landed in Gothenburg, Sweden, and continued its journey to Jonkoping where Niklas Hjalmarsson played with HV71 in the Swedish Elite League. But instead of the Kinnarps Arena, Hjalmarsson wanted to make a stop at the Ryhov Hospital's children's ward, where a dozen kids got to see the famous trophy up close, get Hjalmarsson's autograph and exchange a few words with the Stanley Cup champion.

And, of course, see Hjalmarsson hoist the Cup, like a true champion.

"It's so cool," the 23-year-old defenseman said when the Cup was set up on a table before the children arrived. He let his hand slide down the trophy.



NHL.com, or below.
Cont.

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.



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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).

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.

Cont.

ZURICH – While winning the Victoria Cup is important for the Chicago Blackhawks, and the NHL, for some individuals the Victoria Cup event and its two games are important on a personal level. A good showing in Zurich might be the difference between the NHL and the AHL, between Chicago and Rockford.

Cont.

I may have started the season recently, but the players have been going at for quite a while. Minnesota Wild’s Vezina Trophy nominee Niklas Bäckström, för example, was skating and working on hs game with goalie coach Jukka Ropponen already in late June.

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Here's my take on the Numminen retirement. From IIHF.com.

HELSINKI – Teppo. The name had its heyday in Finland in the 1960s and 1970s, when 1573 baby boys were named Teppo. Between 2000 and 2008, only 87 new Teppos were born, and so far in 2009, only three.

And with only 717 living male (Finnish) Numminens in the world, it may just be that hockey fans have been right all along: there’s only one Teppo Numminen.

Cont.

Well, that, too, but mostly Stanley Cup Final Game 7!

And then some silliness:

How will it end?

Here's something I didn't know.

One important call came early in the third period, when the Rangers’ Colton Orr threw a check with his elbow near the head of Mark Eaton along the glass. Orr was given a rare five-minute major for interference and a game misconduct.

“Five minutes for interference?” Tortorella said.

The Rangers killed off the penalty, but Tortorella chose not to put a player in the penalty box. The penalty expired, but the Rangers spent an additional 27 seconds short-handed before a stoppage allowed them to put a fifth skater on the ice.

“That was totally me,” said Tortorella, who added that the assistant Jim Schoenfeld encouraged him to put someone in the box. He added: “I didn’t forget. I just didn’t do it. That won’t happen again.”

I didn't know you can choose not to have a player in the penalty box when the original offender has been thrown out of the game. I thought you always had to send in somebody. I don't think I've ever seen that.

And didn't see this one, either.

Anyway, at our house, this would be filed under "Risto revenge", meaning, "a foolish act of defiance where the only one getting hurt is Risto, the protester".

First goal, and it was a nice one.

From the NHL's All-Star blog:

Henrik Lundqvist is one of the League's best goalies against the shootout, stopping nearly 77 percent of the 160 shots he has faced during his career. Normally he would agree that the goalie has the advantage, but not so much tonight.

"There are so many good players that I'm happy if I'm 50-50," he said. "When I picked the names every time I was like, 'Oh my god, this is going to be a tough one.' "

And for more on Lundqvist, see this profile I wrote about him a little over a year ago: "Superman plays it cool".

In a short article yesterday in the Swedish Dagens Nyheter, the reporter noted that the Detroit Red Wings are one of the NHL teams starting their 2009-10 season in Europe. The Red Wings, with half a dozen Swedes on their roster, would open their regular season at the Globe Arena in Stockholm, according to the story, quoting the Red Wings' Swedish scout Håkan Andersson.

The really interesting part of the piece is in the last sentence, though, as the reporter mentions that the only road block for the plans is if the Red Wings win the Stanley Cup "because... Cont.

In Finland, this is known as the "get-the-water-out-of-your-ear" move: