Puckarinen

IIHF.com: Homecoming King

Fri, 3 Sep 2010 22:23:42 +0200

HELSINKI � Hockey is a game where you have to be at the right place at the right time. That is what makes a great goal scorer. And great scorers are always sought after in hockey. But sometimes, as a player happens to be at the right place at the right time in the rink, he�s also very much at the right place at the right time outside it.

That�s what legends are made of.

Ville with a Russian fan in Minsk.

Ville Peltonen not only happened to score a goal in the 1995 World Championship final against Sweden. He happened to score a hat trick in the 4-1 win that brought Finland its first ever gold.

He was two-and-a-half weeks shy from his 22nd birthday.

Had you yelled �Villeeeee Peeeeeeltonen� in a random Finnish city, at a random time, in 1995, within seconds somebody would have replied, �Ville Peltonen!�

Just 21 years old, he was a national hero.

That�s hard to top, and like many authors and pop stars, who get tired of retelling the stories that made them famous, Peltonen grew tired of replaying the World Championship final game. Until last winter, he hadn�t even ever watched the game. The Huey - Dewey - Louie references to Peltonen, Saku Koivu, and Jere Lehtinen grew old much faster than the players themselves.

�Maybe enough time has passed now, but when I did watch it for a TV documentary, it was actually fun to see it,� Peltonen says.

Some time surely has passed and Peltonen is no spring chicken anymore. The toothless smile, and his skin that�s tightly drawn over his cheekbones bear witness to a long career. And so, now, upon returning to the Finnish SM-liiga and HIFK Helsinki, he�s a 37-year-old, embattled veteran who�s played almost 400 games in the NHL � with the Sharks, the Predators, and the Panthers � several years in Switzerland, becoming a fan favourite in Lugano. He�s won the Swiss championship, and the scoring title in Switzerland and Sweden, then with Fr�lunda Gothenburg.

Last season Peltonen played in the KHL, and was named captain of Dynamo Minsk within a month of his arrival in Belarus.

After his KHL season, Peltonen declined an invitation to the World Championship due to knee and groin operations, and the rehabilitation has kept him off game action until last week when he made his season debut in HIFK�s European Trophy game against Djurg�rden in Stockholm.

Peltonen�s first game of the season ended a minute before the final buzzer in a match penalty. Djurg�rden�s Fredrik Claesson jumped Peltonen to retaliate Eddie Del Grosso�s knee-on-knee hit on Christian Eklund a few seconds earlier. Peltonen, whose record for penalty minutes in a season is 54, simply wrestled the young defenceman onto the ice, and then left the ice without fanfare. The season is long, and Peltonen knows it. He�ll patiently play himself back into game shape.

Peltonen�s long career is coming to a full circle when he skates out to the SM-liiga regular season opener as HIFK�s captain in mid-September. Some 30 years ago, Ville sat in the stands, watching his father, Esa, play for HIFK. Peltonen, the elder, was the team�s speedy first-line winger for many years, and an integral part of the 1974, 1980, and 1983 Finnish championship teams. Also, Ville�s old junior coach, Tom Nybondas, is now the GM of the SM-liiga team. And it was with HIFK he made his SM-liiga debut in 1991.

�It feels good to be back. I�m looking forward to helping HIFK win the title. I�ve noticed that these days, I need a good challenge like that to stay motivated,� he says.

Some 17 years ago, Ville Peltonen was voted SM-liiga Rookie of the Year. Last year, that award went to Mikael Granlund, the 18-year-old Finnish wonder boy who was drafted ninth overall by the Minnesota Wild in the 2010 NHL entry draft in June.

It�d be easy to see Peltonen, the smart veteran, in a mentor role, coaching the kid. But that�s not why Ville is on the team.

�Well, first and foremost, we�re teammates, with everything that entails. I�m mostly concerned with my own play, and that I can contribute to the team�s success. But of course, I will gladly share what I can with him,� Peltonen says.

For example, a Finnish championship.

Home ice

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 16:17:08 +0200

A friend of mine once told me that he�d heard somewhere that your home will always be wherever you are living when you�re 18. Regardless of the questionable reliability of the source, that�s a claim that�s pretty easy to believe, it kind of makes sense.

Home is where you are when you�re a teenager.

Nothing like an early morning at the rink

At the same time, many teenagers can easily relate to the last line in Bruce Springsteen�s �Thunder Road�:

�It�s a town full of losers / and I�m pulling out of here to wiiiii-iiin.�

That�s what I played over and over and over again in my little room - albeit the biggest one in the house - going through high school in Joensuu, Finland, dealing with issues that teenagers deal with. Never did I think I�d miss that little town. No, siree, I was going to take the first train out.

Maybe it would have been cooler to drive a beat-up Chevrolet down the thunder road, but I didn�t have a driver�s license. You just have to make do with what you have.

I�m actually lying now. I never had a big plan to leave home and show the world. Or, conquer the world. What I did was study for an entrance exam to the Helsinki Business School and got accepted. I was in Harbor Beach, Michigan when the results came in. Mom called me, and I suppose I was feeling a little down that day - maybe that was the day I had to shove chicken and pheasant manure all day - so she wanted to cheer me up.

�But not everything is bad, you know, put a flower in your lapel and smile,� she said, truly, �because you got a letter from the school today, and, I opened it, I hope it�s OK. You got in. Congrats.�

�Oh, nice,� I said.

�Of course, Dad and I would have been happy to keep you here for another year, but this is great news,� she went on.

�Sure is,� I said, feeling very proud. I knew I had just made it through the eye of the needle.

(Well, you know how I just said that I was lying about having a big plan to conquer the world? I was lying then. Of course I had a plan. Of course I wanted to show everybody that I�d be a star. Somewhere. In something. They�d see).

So I left home. I was 18.

Then again, I was returning to Helsinki, another hometown I had left just five years ago. But back then, I had my mother and father with me, and I was mostly a passenger on the ride. This time, I was on my own.

And while I went back to Joensuu a lot in the months that followed, basically moving back every summer, to hang out with my old buddies, to work at my Dad�s store, or a local bank, but by the time I graduated from the business school, the trips had gotten farther apart, and the buddies fewer and fewer.

I was 23 and my life and my home were already elsewhere. It�s still nice to visit there, catch some sun and coffee and cinnamon buns in a cafe at the main square, maybe see some old friends � even though they mostly seem to be old friends of my father�s - but I know I�m just cherry picking. That sunny square is in a parallel universe.

While I may not be able to go back home to Joensuu again, there is one place where I can always go and be at home. It�s silly, but it�s true: I�m at home at a hockey rink. That's where I was when I was 18. And 14. And 12. And 30. Fortunately, there are a lot of hockey rinks in the world.

When I was a kid, in my early teens, and had nothing to do, Dad and I would drive down to the rink and see what was going on. Of course, there was always a practice to see, maybe a game. We�d watch a little, and in Helsinki, I�d walk around the rink, look for stray pucks, broken sticks to take home with me. I was a little older in Joensuu, so I�d sit in the rink cafeteria, or play Pac-Man or pinball.

If I didn�t have a practice or a game of my own.

I love a hockey rink in the morning. When it�s quiet, and there�s a new sheet of ice, and everything and everybody is just getting ready for the day. Whoever�s going to hit the ice is usually in a great mood, the morning skate is all about fun, and enjoying, even celebrating the fact that they can be out there once again. There�s none of the pressure or stress that you can feel at a later skate.

There�s no rush. People always seem to have time.

There�s a certain democracy at the rink. Whatever you may be outside it, what ever position you may have, or car you may drive, it really doesn�t have any no bearing inside the arena. Inside, you�re just an equal part of the game � or the Game, as hockey people like to call it.

I was at Uppsala Zellout arena the other day, watching a pre-season game between a Russian and a Swedish team. During the first intermission, I turned to the man standing next to me and I asked him about the lineups. There we stood then, hunched over his piece of paper, trying to figure out the correct numbers to the Swedish players, who, in the pre-season, still didn�t have their names on their backs. And the Russians had theirs in cyrillic letters.

We went through the list, made our predictions of the game, and then I went for coffee. In front of me in the line, there was the same Swedish NHL player who I had held the door for when I had got to the rink.

He got his coffee, I got mine. The I walked back up all the way to the top of the stands, where I like to watch the game from.

I nodded to the First Intermission Man. He nodded back.

IIHF.com: Tre Kronor still matters

Fri, 13 Aug 2010 13:54:49 +0200

EKSJ�, Sweden � Niklas Hjalmarsson had walked, or run, the 250 metres from his parents� red house to the playground so many times before. Hundreds, thousands even. But this was the first time he had walked the distance carrying the Stanley Cup over his head.

Russn�s, his home village in southern Sweden is about as far from Chicago you can get. With a population of about 80, Russn�s is a collection of about twenty houses on both sides of a narrow road that ends abruptly at the edge of a forest.

Hjalmarsson said yes.

Keep reading after the jump, or on IIHF.com. Hjalmarsson sat on hay bales, with a Chicago Blackhawks number 4 sweater � once worn by Bobby Orr � hanging behind him, and answered to a few questions. About being back home, about his new contract, and about his day with the Cup.

�You�re 23 years old, you�re a Stanley Cup champion � what career goals do you have now?� asked the interviewer.

Hjalmarsson didn�t hesitate.

�I�d like to play the national team. It would really be huge to win something with Tre Kronor,� he said, evoking big cheers from the crowd.

That must have pleased P�r M�rts, the new head coach of Team Sweden, who had come to Russn�s to witness Hjalmarsson�s day.

�I�m here partly because it�s my job, and partly out of curiosity. It was nice to see where he�s from, and to see that his roots are so deeply buried in that village. We all come from somewhere, we all have our past, and I hope his story can inspire kids that you don�t have to come from a big club in a big city to make it,� said M�rts as he watched Hjalmarsson write autographs at his next stop, the Eksj� hockey rink.

�Niklas has always been a player who�s ready to pay any price to win. He�s also been able to use his capacity to one hundred percent,� he added.

There has been a lot of talk in Sweden about the NHLers� lack of interest in the national team � especially since the 2010 World Championship, when practically the entire Olympic team declined invitation to play. M�rts himself has also addressed the issue this summer by organizing a meeting with the Swedish NHL players.

�I think communication is key. We�d like to be in touch with the players earlier by e-mail, text messages, and phone, to make sure they know our plans. Now, the rules make that difficult, but we�ll try to find a way,� he said.

But the players do want to play for their country, said the 57-year-old coach.

�Absolutely, if they�re available and healthy. I think a part of the negative image is simply about media being black and white, there�s no gray zone at all. If there are 60 available players and you pick 22 to the team, it doesn�t mean the rest had said no,� he said.

�Hjalmarsson is a good example. He�s played in the junior national teams, and he�d like to play for Tre Kronor. We have a lot of excellent players born between 1987 and 1991 who feel like that,� said M�rts, who coached Hjalmarsson both at HV71 J�nk�ping and in the 2007 World U20 Championship.

An hour later, M�rts and Hjalmarsson shared the stage in front of over a thousand people at the town�s main square. M�rts congratulated Hjalmarsson, asked him about his mental toughness, and then, with a smirk on his face, got ready for his last question.

�Niklas, I assume, you have a mobile phone so, let�s say the Hawks are out of the playoffs, and that you�re healthy, and I, as head coach of Team Sweden, call you in about the World Championship, what would you say,� he asked.

Hjalmarsson bowed closer to the microphone, and in a determined voice, albeit hoarse from all the festivities, replied:

�Ja, tack.�

M�rts smiled, the crowd cheered.

NHL.com: It takes a village

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 21:30:00 +0200

"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.

The Hammer.

NHL.com, or below.
Hjalmarsson's father, Sivert, said he could see all the miles driving Niklas to practices and tournaments flash before his eyes. (The village, Russnas, is almost 40 miles from Jonkoping, where Niklas played his last junior years.)

"But now I truly understand that it's true. And this Cup fest here is unbelievable. Everybody in the village has worked for it, voluntarily, without wanting anything back, just out of the goodness of their hearts," Sivert said.

Niklas's mother, Eva, missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs when she suffered a stroke in late April -- but today, back on her feet, she was all smiles, watching Niklas, his elder brother Henrik, little sister Ida, and Niklas's girlfriend Elina have fun in the sun.

"It's wonderful to see how the whole village has come together behind Niklas. We haven't done this, everybody else has," she said.

And Niklas seemed to enjoy giving back, showing off the Cup.

"He's so modest and down to earth," Eva Hjalmarsson said, smiling, like only a proud mother can.

The country road was full of cars, and like in "Field of Dreams" they came from nowhere, turned towards Russnas, in one big line, all with the same destination in mind. That Russnas road is where Niklas's roots are, buried deep underneath.

"Niklas was born here. I was born in that house over there," said Sivert, pointing to a beige house some 200 yards away, next to the playground where Niklas used to play, and where he was determined to bring the Cup.

"And my sister lives there, and my mother over there, and there are a couple of Hjalmarssons across the street," he added.

The garage door is filled with puck marks, left by shots that Niklas has fired from the driveway. It's looked like that for a while now -- and probably will look like that for a good while longer.

"I think dad has changed his mind about getting a new door," Niklas said.

"I respect my father immensely, there's nothing I wouldn't do for him," he added.

No wonder then, that when Hjalmarsson had thought out loud what he could do with the Cup in the morning -- before the public Cup fest would begin -- and his father suggested taking it to the lunch cafeteria at his job, it was a done deal.

"My father used to be a farmer for a long time but when we sold it, he took a job at the sawmill," Hjalmarsson said.

Niklas carried the Cup into the cafeteria, and lifted it above his head, almost touching the ceiling. At the same time dozens of mobile phone cameras were lifted as well.

"Does anyone want to lift it?" he asked. "Come on, here's your chance."

Just one man came up and hoisted the Cup.

"Anybody else?" Niklas said. "Come on you, old classmate of mine," he then shouted to a young man in the back of the room.

And then it was time to get to the old playground with the swings, and the long jump place and open space where Niklas used to play soccer, but which today had hot dog stands, a shooting competition, a miniature golf course -- and axe throwing.

It was probably also the first time "Chelsea Dagger" has been blasted off speakers at the playground.

"It's amazing to see everybody's pure happiness for me, there's no jealousy, they really mean it when they say they're happy for me."
-- Niklas Hjalmarsson "It's amazing to see everybody's pure happiness for me, there's no jealousy, they really mean it when they say they're happy for me," Hjalmarsson said.

"Take a lot of photos, people, who knows when this thing will be back again," he said.

Next stop: Eksjo hockey rink, where it all began. Dozens of kids, dressed in Eksjo's blue sweaters, had come to see their hero, and to join him in a parade through the city. A marching band from Poland -- in Eksjo to participate in Eksjo Tattoo -- led the way as Hjalmarsson and the Cup made their way to the Stortorget, the main square of Eksjo.

What started out as a small parade grew with every block, so that the sidewalks were full of people when the truck got into the square. But when Hjalmarsson saw the hundreds of people waiting for him in the stands, his jaw dropped.

He was celebrated, interviewed, and sung to. He got the minutes of the town council meeting from the morning where they promised to arrange ice for Niklas Hjalmarsson Hockey School in 2011. A Niklas Hjalmarsson Hockey Stipend will be founded. And when the new head coach of Team Sweden, Par Marts, asked him what he would say to an invitation to the World Championships (provided he's healthy and not in the middle of another Stanley Cup run), Hjalmarsson said, "ja, tack" -- yes, thank you -- evoking big cheers from the crowd.

Today, nothing was impossible for Hjalmarsson. He even helped the Keepers of the Cup, Phil Pritchard and Walter Neubrand, settle a bet they had made earlier in the morning, about whether the country boy, whose relatives milked their cows before going back to bed after the Stanley Cup Final games, knows how to milk a cow.

"Of course," he said.

NHL.com: Stanley Cup to Russn�s

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 00:25:01 +0200

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.

Cute.

NHL.com, or below.
"I saw it a couple of weeks ago, but I've missed it," he said with a smile.

But Jonkoping was not the end of the road for Stanley. On Monday night, it was the guest of honor at a party hosted by Hjalmarsson in Nassjo, the next town over, some 25 miles from Jonkoping, a city with a population of 125,000.

Nassjo only has 10 percent of the population of Jonkoping, but it's a little bigger than Hjalmarsson's hometown, Eksjo, the next town over. That's where the parade will take place on Tuesday, starting at the local rink, the Storegardshallen, and then going through the city's main street.

But to get to the starting point of Hjalmarsson's journey, you'll have to drive about another 10 miles to Russnas, a village of about 90 people where, according to an local, um, rural legend, half the people are named Hjalmarsson.

"My town in Sweden has 90 people. They watch tonight's game at 2 in the morning, then go milk cows at 5. They are more tired than I am. Wait until I bring this Cup there. They will not be tired," Niklas said during the Stanley Cup Final.

After about 300 meters off the main highway, a visitor comes to a T intersection. And if you're unsure of whether you're in the right place, the insecurity is quickly removed by a huge sign welcoming you to Russnas -- "V�lkommen till Russnas" -- and a big photo of Niklas Hjalmarsson, the Stanley Cup champion with the text, "Grattis Niklas," or, "Congratulations, Niklas" on it. Next to it, there's a replica Stanley Cup.

Turn left, and the road -- wide enough for just one car at a time -- takes you through the village, with cows on both sides of it, until it comes to a dead end about five-eighths of a mile later.

The people in Russnas weren't tired on Monday as they were working on the preparations of tomorrow's festivities. Not all of them are related to Niklas, either, although the one he was talking about, the one who went to milk the cows after the game, was his father's cousin.

They were busy setting up tents and hot dog stands for the village's big day. A choir will sing, there will be a lottery, and Hjalmarsson will get to show off his hockey skills in a competition.

Hjalmarsson and the Stanley Cup's visit are good advertising for the village. There's hope that the Eksjo municipality will now help build a rink to the playground where Niklas used to play as a kid. His old rink, on the other side of the highway, is gone; buried under the railway.

The only thing the people in Russnas were slightly worried about is the number of visitors.

Somebody had heard that 800 people might show up, all the way from Linkoping, about 75 miles north of Russnas. And they only have 500 hot dogs.

Celebration

Sun, 8 Aug 2010 20:56:10 +0200

And you thought Ovi's "hot stick" routine was a little over the top, eh?

F�rjestad goalie Rahm admits to doping

Thu, 5 Aug 2010 17:30:36 +0200

KARLSTAD � F�rjestads BK�s goaltender Robin Rahm�s June 28 doping test has been found positive, containing traces of anabolic steroids. The 23-year-old goaltender admits to using anabolic steroids.

�I�ve made a huge mistake, and I wish there was something I could do to get it undone,� he said in a press release published on the club�s website.

Rahm had a hip surgery in May, and he says he used the illegal substances hoping they�d help him recover faster. F�rjestad has suspended him immediately, pending investigation by the Swedish anti-doping committee that will determine his suspension.

The club�s GM, Thomas Rundqvist, was sympathetic to Rahm.

�I feel sorry for Robin and the club, while it�s obvious that we can�t emphasize enough that this can�t be tolerated,� he said in an interview with Swedish Aftonbladet.

�We�ve talked with Robin today and yesterday, and our mental coach, Lennart Carlsson, will take care of him. It�s important that we don�t just kick him out. We�re all available for help, and Robin also has his family nearby,� he added.

Rahm made his Elitserien debut with F�rjestad last season, playing 19 games, and posting a .907 save percentage.

Stanley goes Method

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 18:48:18 +0200

In character, Vanity Fair style:

Talkin' to me?

Euro League IV: A new hope

Wed, 9 Jun 2010 22:39:14 +0200

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?

According to Swedish Expressen, the new league would consist of four divisions of ten teams, with one Swedish division, one Finnish division, one Central European division, and a Czechoslovakian division. The Central European division would include teams from Germany, Switzerland, and Austria.

Most of the games, about 60 percent, would be within the divisions, 20 percent against teams in the neighbouring division, and 20 percent against teams in the other divisions.

The initiative was taken in Sweden, with former NHLer H�kan Loob, the CEO of F�rjestad, leading the way. First, five Swedish and Five Finnish teams joined forces to create a Nordic pre-season tournament, the Nordic Trophy, beginning the education of their fans.

�I think that we�ll have to start from scratch, and think anew,� said Loob when I spoke with him in March.

�That said, I think we have to take care of our base, and still have the derbys that everybody loves. F�rjestad would still play against Fr�lunda, but we�ll add some international flavor to it, and I think people would welcome that,� he added.

Last year, the five Swedish teams - Djurg�rden, Fr�lunda, F�rjestad, HV71, and Link�ping - launched a feasibility study, to see how to create a pan-European league. When their partnership with the KHL - the Russian league became a financing partner of HUB, the development company founded for the purpose of starting up a league - crashed, the five Swedish clubs have also financed the �Hockey League�, as it�s called, according to Swedish media.

In addition to the five Swedish teams, Malm�, a southern Sweden club with an NHL-calibre arena is said to be interested. Lule�, in the north of Sweden, has already bought a seat on HUB. Modo, the alma mater of Peter Forsberg, Markus N�slund, the Sedins, and Victor Hedman, has also been invited to join HUB.

In Finland, both Helsinki teams, Jokerit and IFK, have said that they would be interested in playing in a pan-European league. While both clubs have played in the Nordic Trophy, none of the Finnish clubs have said to know anything about any concrete plans.

That said, Jokerit chairman Harry Harkimo�s comment is perfectly in line with the rumored time table.

�Our goal has always been to play in a European league and one will be up and running within two, three years, without a doubt. I can�t say whether it will launch in 2012, but in 2013 the latest,� he said.

He also said the recent signing of Jarmo Kek�l�inen, assistant GM of the St. Louis Blues, as the CEO is a step towards a more professional organization, in a European league.

�The Swedes have been doing the research and we�re waiting to hear something more concrete now. We haven�t agreed on any number of clubs. It can be ten, but I think it�s likely to be less than that,� says Kai Miesm�ki, chairman of Tamhockey, the company behind Tappara, one of the Finnish clubs involved in negotiations.

�Launching in 2012 would be a challenge. The clubs do have some agreements, and sponsorship deals that bind them, and if some of the SM-liiga clubs will join a new league, we�ll have to see how that Finnish league is organized so that we won�t hurt the game,� he adds.

A breakout league is a hot potato in Europe where the national leagues, and championships, have been treasured for decades.

�We�re definitely talking, but it�s not like we�re forming a new league, we�re trying to find a better structure for European hockey,� says Peter John Lee, the GM of Eisb�ren Berlin, a German powerhouse.

�We�re trying to find a structure that�s good for the fans, and the game, and makes the sport grow in Europe. To be number two in the continent, behind soccer, wouldn�t be such a bad thing. The NHL is not close to being the number one sport in North America, and the last time I checked the players salaries, they seemed to be doing fine,� he adds.

Per-Anders �rtendahl, the chairman of HUB, also the chairman of Fr�lunda, also makes a point of saying a new league would be good for Swedish hockey.

�This is the only way out for Swedish hockey,� he told Sydsvenskan.

�We have to get growth so that we can keep our best players a little longer. We�ll build this carefully and gradually, get the federation on board, and bear our responsibility for the lower divisions,� he says.

The failed attempt to launch the Champions Hockey League has made the clubs suspicious of the International Ice Hockey Federation, too. The clubs feel that the IIHF betrayed them by first canceling the 2009-10 season, despite having committed to a three-year deal with the leagues. The IIHF, having lost its backers after the first year, didn�t have resources to manage a cup competition that handed out 10 million euro in prize money.

�We had an agreement with the IIHF, and they pulled out after just one year. Club hockey is getting to be a pretty big business, and the clubs pay for the development of the players. The federations have some good programs, but it�s not they who�re paying the salaries. I�d say 80 percent of the work is done by the clubs,� Lee says.

�The clubs need to get a little more respect from the IIHF,� he adds.

As on cue, IIHF Vice President, Finland�s Kalervo Kummola, came out on Wednesday, and said that the IIHF would make life very difficult for any �pirate league�.

�I doubt it�ll get off the ground without the national federations or the IIHF,� he told Finnish MTV3.

�We have our ways, international boycotts and quite a bit of other things. On the other hand, i don�t think they�ll get the financing in order, or that any TV company would want to acquire the rights to a pirate league,� he added.

The Nordic Trophy, the original pre-season league, has grown into the European Trophy that has its inaugural season in the fall of 2010. It includes 18 European teams from Austria, Finland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland, with the final tournament played in Salzburg, the home of Red Bull Salzburg.

It has been rumored that the Red Bull - or the energy drink company�s deep pockets - would also give wings to the new league. Also, software giant SAP, headquartered in Walldorf, Germany, has been mentioned as another possible sponsor.

�All this takes time, of course. We�re an East Berlin club, and we�ve been very lucky to grow and turn Eisb�ren into a team for the entire city.

The oldest argument against a European league - that the fans don�t care - may not be true anymore.

�Our participation in the European Trophy got leaked to a paper on a Sunday, and it was a bit of a scandal. There was a lot of talk about Eisb�ren and Mannheim leaving the DEL. On Monday, though, fans were contacting us to see where they could buy tickets,� says Lee whose Eisb�ren has little problems selling tickets to their new O2 World, averaging 14,060, or 99 percent of the capacity, in the regular season.

�Bern is always sold out, too. How do you tell your ownership that you need to change? You always look for growth. I value the German championship like gold, and I would, and the fans would enjoy European success, too. We had a good run in the Champions Hockey League, and we�ve educated the fans over the years,� he adds.

With one DEL team suspended from the league, and another one filing for insolvency proceedings, maybe the growth is in a new league. Or, a new structure.

After regular season play, in the 60/20/20 structure, the playoffs would again be played within the respective divisions. The champions of each division would then meet in a Challenge Cup, or a new round of playoffs, together with the best KHL teams.

And somewhere in the dreamy horizon, there�s the hope that the winner of that round would take on the Stanley Cup champion, for world dominance.

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

Tue, 8 Jun 2010 19:08:44 +0200

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.

Jari Kurri and Reijo Ruotsalainen won all their Cups -- five and two, respectively -- with the Oilers, while Esa Tikkanen was on four of those Oilers teams and on the New York Rangers team that won the Cup in 1994.

It�s not every year that Finnish hockey fans can be sure of the Cup making a visit in Finland. This year�s Final series is only the fifth time that Finnish players are facing off against each other for the Stanley Cup.

So, the country is hungry for a new Stanley Cup champion -- and there will be one, that much we know. Not only that, Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Antti Niemi and forward Ville Leino and defenseman Kimmo Timonen of the Philadelphia Flyers have been some of the key players in the series.

While the Finnish hardcore NHL fans are tuning in to the Final this year, the Finnish -- and possibly European -- hockey heroes are still born in national team play. Swedish netminder Henrik Lundqvist of the Rangers said in an interview two years ago that he always played for Sweden because he wanted to become folkk�r ("Loved by the people.")

Teemu Selanne and the Cup drew 10,000 fans to downtown Helsinki in the summer of 2007 not simply because he�s won the Calder Trophy and the Rocket Richard Trophy, but also because he�s won and lost bronze and silver medals for Finland at the World Championships, and in the Olympics and World Cup. Had Saku Koivu won the Cup with the Montreal Canadiens, there would have been no stopping the celebrations in Turku, Finland.

�You have to be a superstar in the NHL to be a superstar in Finland, because the NHL still seems so far away. Even if people complain about the level of hockey at the Worlds or the Finnish league, the majority of people still follow mostly those. However, for anyone following the NHL, there�s never been a better time,� said Aki M�ki-Kuhna, a Helsinki-based fan.

Niemi and Leino have never represented Finland in a major tournament, and while Leino was a bona fide star in the Finnish SM-Liiga just two years ago, he wasn�t the kind of household name that makes people get up in the middle of the night to watch a hockey game -- regardless of how good the matchup is.

All Cup Final games start at 3 a.m. in Finland, probably the worst possible time for the working man. But of course, where there�s a will, there�s a way.

�I do time-shifting, so I record the game, and get up at, say, 4:30, then watch the first two periods, fast forwarding past the commercial breaks and the intermissions, and then watch the last period live,� said M�ki-Kuhna.

There is another option. The games are broadcast the next day as well.

�We have more viewers for the delayed broadcasts, but obviously, the hardcore fans stay up at night,� said Johannes Lepp�nen, country manager of Viasat Finland, the local broadcaster.

�It�s not like I get up in the middle of the night to watch every game during the regular season, but I try to catch the most interesting games, with the Finns. Or, Detroit. And Sel�nne. The Final is obviously great, with Finns on both teams,� said M�ki-Kuhna, who mentioned that his brother has seen over a 100 NHL games this season.

There is, of course, Timonen. The 35-year-old defenseman has been a Team Finland regular for years, but just like Niemi and Leino -- and, for example, Valtteri Filppula -- he likes to keep a low profile during the off-season in Finland.

�I�m kind of cheering for the Flyers. I�ve always liked Leino, but he and Niemi are still young, so they have time. What I really want is to see Timonen get his ring,� M�ki-Kuhna said.

During Game 4, I logged on to Facebook, Skype, MSN, AIM, and Twitter, to see who was online, getting ready to chat with my Finnish buddies through the game. My mother was the only one online on Skype but she wasn�t watching the Blackhawks and Flyers. Of my 307 Facebook buddies, the lone Finn online, an old teammate of mine, wasn�t watching the game, either. Instead, he was uploading videos of his band, the Amazing Noise, onto YouTube.

At 3:47 a.m. Finnish time, the sun was back up, and Matt Carle gave the Flyers a 2-0 lead, when a Finnish journalist tweeted: �Game over. Now I can sleep. Wake me up before Game 5.�

But the Finnish media is covering the Final, and covering it well. In addition to the seven accredited journalists following the series in the U.S., the newspapers and websites are busy browsing North American media outlets for stories and quotes -- especially those that have that Niemi-Leino-Timonen connection.

�For us, the NHL is a great product because it interests Finns. We�ll put even more resources into the Finnish production of the games,� says Lepp�nen, whose sympathies lie with the Blackhawks.

�Professionally, I�m now cheering for the Flyers, so that we get a Game 7,� he said, laughing.

Of course, even if neither Niemi nor Leino were household names in Finland before May, whoever brings the Cup to Finland will become a true star in their homeland.

Even for those who�ve slept through the Final.