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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.
Well, he started his NHL career with the Winnipeg Jets in a 21-team league.
On Tuesday, he announced his retirement in an interview with Finnish magazine Suomen Kuvalehti, leaving the NHL twenty seasons later with over 1400 games under his belt, his 1372 regular season games are more than any European player has played so far.
“Playing an 82-game schedule started to get to me already last season, and I probably couldn’t have done it anymore,” he says.
Ironically for the consummate team player, the thing that finally stopped the one-time NHL Ironman, who played 360 consecutive games in the league, was his heart. Numminen has undergone several heart surgeries, the latest in 2007, to repair a faulty valve.
“After the last surgery I couldn’t even think that I would be back playing hockey. I just hoped to be able to live a normal life,” he says.
But hard work and persistence, his trademarks throughout his career, brought him back to the last regular season game with the Buffalo Sabres in 2008.
“It was the most important game of my life. I’ll never forget it,” he says.
But even if he looked the same to the fans, and even if many or most experts expected him to be on the Finnish national team for the Vancouver Olympics – 22 years after his first Canadian Olympics – things weren’t the same for him.
“The medication became a constant reminder of my troubles and by the end of last season, I couldn’t play at the level I wanted, I lost a step. At times, I was very tired, and I had also already reached my goal which was to return to being a professional player,” he says.
A son of a legendary Finland head coach, Kalevi Numminen, and a hockey prodigy in his Finland in the 1980s – the Tappara Tampere juniors with Numminen and Janne Ojanen went from strength to strength, winning the Finnish championship as 12-year-olds, 14-year-olds, 16-year-olds, and 18-year-olds – Numminen has always been a star. But he’s never acted like one, instead choosing to keep a very low profile, minding his own business – and let others mind theirs.
A Tampere native, Numminen fits the stereotype perfectly. The people from Tampere are said to be calm, slow, and modest, to a fault. “Let’s not make a big deal out of this,” is a phrase that echoes in the Tampere Arena. Numminen has never made a big deal out of himself.
In 1994, the NHL brought the Winnipeg Jets to Helsinki, Finland. Teemu Selänne had won the Calder Trophy in 1993, and broken the rookie goal scoring record, and was the star attraction in a tournament that pitted the Jets against Jokerit Helsinki, Selänne’s old club, Tappara, Numminen’s old club, and HIFK Helsinki.
At the time, Numminen, 25, was a six-season veteran and a first-pair defenceman. In the Jets’ first game, against Tappara, Numminen and Selänne were greeted by a sold out, enthusiastic, Finnish crowd. Numminen took few quick steps onto the ice, and circled around – with “NUMMINNEN” on his back.
Things happen. It was just a name plate. Teppo probably didn’t want to make a big deal out of it.
Just like the retirement announcement. He just gave an interview, and that was it.
But a career like his is a big deal.
“If somebody had told me (early in his career) that I’d play in the NHL at the age of 40, and that I’d play 1454 games, I wouldn’t have believed him. It’s unbelievable. I’m just grateful for everything,” he says.
