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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.

The pessimists point to Finland’s four recent World Junior Championships without a medal. The optimists point to players like Mikael Granlund, Toni Rajala, Teemu Pulkkinen, and Sami Vatanen.

Vatanen also made headlines in Finland this year, when he scored two big goals against the Czechs in the World Juniors, finishing two end-to-end rushes with goals; first one was a slapshot from the point, in the second one, the Jyväskylä native caught Czech defenceman flatfooted, went around him and the goalie to tie the game.

This week, Vatanen, 18, broke the rookie defenceman points record in the Finnish SM-liiga when he scored a goal in JYP Jyväskylä’s game against KalPa Kuopio, recording his sixth goal and 28th point of the season. He already held the rookie defencemen’s assist record.

“Records are records, and you need the support of a good team, but of course they’re also proof of the fact that I’ve done something right,” Vatanen told IIHF.com.

“The whole season’s been a surprise, I didn’t think that I’d be playing a regular shift in the SM-liiga, I thought I’d play a couple of games and then go back to juniors or the Mestis farm team. I’ve been playing in a much bigger role than I expected,” he says.

Yes, he has. The Anaheim Ducks fourth-round draft pick in 2009 (106th overall) averages 19:37 minutes a game - fifth on the team - and has only missed three games this season, those due to the World Juniors. Four of his six goals are power play goals, and he’s third in the league in shots taken with 287. That’s 59 more than anyone else on JYP. His 28 points in 48 games are fifth on the team.

On a team that’s the reigning Finnish champion, currently third in the standings, expected to go deep in the playoffs that begin in a couple of weeks.

And three years ago, the smooth-skating defenceman was playing in JYP’s junior C.

“I don’t know what really happened, all of a sudden my development was just off the charts, or straight up. Not sure why, but I hope I’ll keep developing like this,” he says.

One explanation is playing on a team with a lot of good players that push each other into becoming better, and working harder and smarter. For Vatanen, that team was JYP’s Junior B with Pekka Jormakka, who’s played a handful of games with JYP this season, and Joonas Nättinen, a teammate onf the U20 national team, who’s played 21 games with the Espoo Blues this season.

“We won the Finnish championship in our age group that year, and I think we had six or seven players in the junior national team camps. Of course, we were all friends, but we all surely wanted to be the best player on the team as well, and the competition was probably good for us,” Vatanen says.

With most teams always on a lookout for good defencemen, Vatanen, a smart and mobile player got a chance to crack the team, despite his young age, and physical immaturity. Vatanen, at 175 centimetres and 75 kilos, who relies on his quickness and hockey sense when battling with forwards in his own end, took it.

“The pace of the game is faster than in the juniors, and of course, it’s not easy wrestling with big guys in the corners, but I think I’ve got better. It’s my first season so obviously, I’ve played some poor games, too,” he says.

“I need to get stronger, that’s clear, but so far I’ve been able to compensate that weakness by reading the plays, and positioning myself right,” he adds.

Of course, the local team’s new star defenceman is a celebrity in Jyväskylä. And with the points, and the records, and the highlight goals in the World Juniors, comes media attention.

“Well, I wouldn’t call myself a celebrity, but every once in a while, somebody wants to talk hockey with me. That’s different from last year when nobody knew me. But I’ll just try to play as well as I can, and not think about what others think. I think it was Teemu Selänne who said that ‘you’re never as good as the papers say, but never as bad, either’,” says Vatanen.

“I don’t need to read the papers, I have a pretty good idea what I’ve answered to the reporters’ questions,” he adds, laughing.

And now the teenager whose non-hockey activities include “hanging out with my buddies” is getting ready to take another step in his career, in the SM-liiga playoffs.

“I have no personal goals for the remainder of the season, but I’d like to win my first Finnish title, and get that right off the bat. Hopefully, I’ll get a call to the men’s national team at some point,” he says.

The optimists hope so, too. And they’d like to see him wearing the Finnish jersey already in Germany.

“I haven’t really thought about that,” says Vatanen.]]> SM-liiga http://www.ristopakarinen.com/hockey/index.php?itemid=223 Sat, 6 Mar 2010 20:00:10 +0100 http://www.ristopakarinen.com/hockey/?itemid=222
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.

I’ve been asked for my autograph once. Coincidentally, it was during the year that Ville’s father, also a Team Finland legend, but a generation earlier, Esa was my coach.

I came walking from the dressing room, and opened the door to the lobby of the arena. It wasn’t huge, there was just a Coke machine, a janitor’s booth, and a staircase to an upstairs cafeteria. Usually the girlfriends and wives were waiting there - the ones that didn’t have kids - and usually I just kept on walking out the front door.

Except, this one time, there were two young boys, with pen and paper, and they stopped me by politely standing in my way, and shoving the pen and paper to my chest.

I was amazed. Never before had I been asked for an autograph. Never before had someone wanted to touch my life in such a way. Never before had someone wanted to get a piece of me like that. A memento.

I’ve never been an autograph hunter. Probably because I haven’t been in the presence of great celebrities, or because I’m just too shy to approach anybody and have them sign a piece of paper for me just because I happen to share a space with them for a second.

In fact, I’ve only asked for an autograph once in my life, and I did that just to get somebody else - who was an autograph hunter, but also shy - to do it. At that point, I was in my thirties. During the 2003 Hockey World Championship in Helsinki, Brother-in-Law and I saw legendary Soviet coach Viktor Tikhonov outside the Helsinki arena. Brother-in-Law wanted to get an autograph of the coach that saw the Miracle on Ice from behind the losers’ bench.

So, for moral support, I did it. And I’m glad I did. Because I could tell he was glad to sign my little piece of paper.

I do have some other autographs. When I was 13, a friend of mine sent me Bobby Hull’s autograph. And in Canada, a radio host friend of mine told me, on his way to backstage area, that he’d get me something. He did. I have a ticket stub that says “To Reestow, lots of love, Nancy xxx”. Nancy is Nancy Wilson of Heart.

Bobby Hull, Heart, Viktor Tikhonov. Happy to have all their autographs, and happy to have that special connection to them all. (I also have all of the Tampa Bay Lightning players’ autographs on a hat that Cookie sent me, and for that reason alone, that team has a special place in my heart).

There is one autograph I know better than the others, though. It used to be the first thing I saw when I woke up in my teens. It was the one that was plastered all over the margins in all my books in high school. It belonged to a hockey player whose photo I used on my bus pass for months. The first name started with upside-down Golden Arches, and the last name with a G that was so different from the one I had learned at school that it seemed more like a musical note than a letter to me.

But I could copy it perfectly.

“Wayne Gretzky”, and a little “#99” underneath, on a poster above my bed.

Even if I never seem to be able to throw anything away, I’ve never been a collector, either. I don’t have a complete collection of anything. But the things I have, I keep. That’s why there’s still one of the 1978 soccer World Cup collectible cards floating around my desk somewhere. Oddly enough, it’s a photo of Team Sweden, of all countries.

I’ve never been able to collect hockey cards,don't have the perseverance, but I do have a couple of Gretzkys, and a Mats Sundin. I have saved several special Gretzky retirement magazines. I have that old Toronto Maple Leafs game program where I first read about this great player, then called The Kid. I have the ticket stub to his last game in the NHL. A friend sent it to me.

I’ve read two Gretzky biographies dozens of times, and all through high school, I had an Oilers sticker - “Go 2 it” - on the splash guard of my green Peugeot bike.

The only collectible thing I have ever bought, just to have, is the August 10 issue of the Edmonton Sun. The one detailing the trade that took Gretzky from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings.

Well, I do have two Wayne Gretzky action figures, one with an Oiler Wayne hoisting the Stanley Cup above his head, and another, an LA King Gretzky.

Wife calls them dolls.

If there ever was an autograph I wanted, it was Gretzky’s.

Five hours before I was standing in the mixed zone watching Ville Peltonen talk to the press and fans, I was in a hotel, a conference room, in Minsk, Belarus. There were about 50 journalists there, a few camera crews, and a half a dozen photographers.

A colleague placed my dictaphone on the table next to the mikes, so I could record what was being said. I found a spot in the back, in an open area, where I could see the door.

Twelve hours earlier, I had heard that Wayne Gretzky was in town and that I was invited to a press conference he would have. I was even under the impression that I might get some one-on-one time with the Great One, so when I saw him walk into the room, my heart was beating and my mind was racing.

What would I ask him? What would I ask him? Would I waste a minute on his opinions on the Russian league, or would I ask him about the good old days. He must be tired of talking about that, I decided. What about being The Great One? He’s not going to tell me, he doesn’t know me.

Should I ask for his autograph? No. I’m working.

I moved to the other side of the conference room, so I could get closer, and take some photos.

I was trying to see what he saw: a room full of journalists - he looked surprised to see so many people there - and a guy with a camera to his right, staring, smiling, cocking his head to the left.

Would he know that I was his biggest fan? Could he tell? What would he say if I told him so? But of course, I wouldn’t, not now, not here, not … probably ever.

I looked at him. Wayne’s not 18, or 25 anymore. Neither am I. Then he looked at me. And I think he looked into my eyes. And I think he smiled.

After the press conference, I went to get my recorder when all the other journalists approached Gretzky, to ask one more question. I snuck behind the table, looking for my Olympus, but couldn’t see it anywhere. I heard somebody ask Wayne something about Jari Kurri, and sighed, because I had heard the answer a hundred times before.

I felt a slight panic for having lost my recorder, and a Gretzky press conference on it so I moved to the left, and felt the table cloth with my hand, to see if my recorder had maybe somehow ended up underneath it.

And then I felt my shoulder touch something. I looked up, and there was Wayne Gretzky.

I was rubbing shoulders with Wayne Gretzky.

For real. I decided that I didn’t need his autograph. I could still do one myself.

”Me?” I asked the boys. “You want my autograph?”

“Yeah, yeah,” they said.

I looked around to see if any of the girlfriends saw this. If they did, they didn’t care. I took the pen and paper, and wrote my name on it. No number underneath, just my name. After all, I hadn’t even played in the game, I'd been a healthy scratch, as I had been all season.

“Thanks,” the boys said.

“You’re welcome,” I replied, and walked towards the door, to get to my sky-blue 1966 Volkswagen Beetle as fast as possible when I heard one of the boys talk again.

“Who was he?” he asked his friend.
]]> Hockey http://www.ristopakarinen.com/hockey/index.php?itemid=222 Tue, 2 Feb 2010 23:05:25 +0100 http://www.ristopakarinen.com/hockey/?itemid=221 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.

The beard adds a few years onto the players, it makes them look more rugged. The beard is a proof of the length of the path towards the championship.

One of the most impressive playoff beards in the Swedish Elitserien belongs to David Petrasek. The HV71 defenceman wore his red and bushy beard – that looks almost golden – proudly in the 2008 playoffs when the Jönköping team went all the way. But Petrasek was much more than just a cool beard, scoring six goals and ten points in 17 post-season games. He scored four of his six goals in the six-game final series against Linköping.

Last season, Petrasek put up his highest points total of the career, with 27, five more that his 22 points in 2007-08 which was two more that he scored in 2006-07, which was five points more than his 15 in 2005-06, his first with HV71 after five seasons with the Malmö Redhawks.

“I think I’ve been developing quite steadily, step by step, all along. I haven’t done anything different before this season, just been working hard the same way as before,” Petrasek told IIHF.com.

The reason that would even prompt a question about his changed workout regime and such is obvious. At the writing of this, David Petrasek, the 33-year-old Jönköping native, leads the team in scoring and is third in league scoring with his 13 goals and 45 points in 38 games. At this rate, he will easily double his previous best points total in a season.

Maybe this will jinx it, and maybe it’s such a preposterous thought that it shouldn’t even be put into words, but... no defenseman has ever won the Elitserien or its predecessor’s scoring title.

Petrasek is just two points behind Linköping’s Tony Mårtensson, the current scoring leader.

Like a beard, he’s just been growing, and growing, until finally, he’s almost turned into another player.

“One reason (for the points) is that I’ve got to the chance to play on power play, with the same guys, for many years now, and we just keep getting better as a unit. We come up with new plays all the time,” said Petrasek, who’s scored eleven of his 13 goals on power play, one less than the league’s power play goal leader, Linköping’s Mikael Håkanson.

His early lead in the scoring race was easy to dismiss as an early season fluke, but Petrasek’s just been scoring and getting those points regularly. Thanks to being on the first power play unit and obviously, the way he’s playing, Petrasek also leads HV71 in ice time, averaging 22:39 a game for the team that has a seven-point lead over second-place Linköping in the standings.

“My self-confidence has just got better all the time, which also helps. Maybe this would have been more difficult when I was younger, maybe I would have thought about the points more, but now I just take it one game at a time,” he says.

Petrasek is no spring chicken, but at 33, he’s still not ready to retire, either. Far from it. He played his first Elitserien game in 1994-95, the year HV71 won its first Swedish title, and split that, and the following season with the HV71’s Elitserien team and the major junior team.

In 2000, Petrasek signed with Malmö, but returned his hometown for 2005-06 and won his second Swedish championship in 2008. Petrasek, like captain Johan Davidsson, 34, and Olympic goaltender Stefan Liv, 29, was born and raised in Jönköping, and worked his way up through the club’s junior system.

“I started playing hockey with HV71 when I was five or six, I’ve watched the Elitserien team play, I’ve been at the fan section cheering, there’s no doubt that HV71 is the team in my heart,” says Petrasek.

That’s good news for HV71 because Petrasek is in the final year of his contract with the club and will surely be a hot commodity in the player market as are Davidsson and Liv, who may also be looking to entertain other options.

Things might get hairy in Jönköping, and it’s only a good thing when the results can be seen on Petrasek’s face.]]> Elitserien http://www.ristopakarinen.com/hockey/index.php?itemid=221 Thu, 21 Jan 2010 09:53:50 +0100 http://www.ristopakarinen.com/hockey/?itemid=219
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.

Janne Ojanen is not the same force he was in the 1980s, 1990s, or early 2000s. At 41, he’s one of those elderly statesmen in hockey, a player who’s been there, done that, then gone there again, and done it again.

“That” being winning.

He’s the last dinosaur, the last player in the SM-liiga to have been born in the 1960s. In 1968, to be exact. Ojanen is a member of Tappara Tampere’s golden generation. Together with Teppo Numminen, Ojanen won the Finnish championship in all age groups, starting when they were 12.

He was named best player at the first junior evaluation camp in 1983.

In 1987, he won the World U20 Championship with Finland – when a bench-clearing brawl in a game between Canada and the Soviet Union disqualified those two teams. The same spring he played in the men’s World Championship, and in the fall, in the Canada Cup.

The following year, he was – naturally – a member of the 1988 Olympic team that won Finland’s first medal in a big tournament.

In 1991, Janne Ojanen’s scored two goals when Finland pushed Canada to a 2-2 tie in the Canada Cup, and went on to finish third, according to many, the best accomplishment in Finnish hockey up to that point.

And in 1995 he became the first Finnish player to win both junior and men’s World Championship.

Just that would be a great career. But Ojanen went on to play a couple of seasons in Sweden, then returned to Tappara, the club he’s always represented in Finland. In 2002, he won the scoring title, and was voted best player in the SM-liiga. He’s got three Finnish titles, two silver medals, and yet, somehow, he seems to have avoided the limelight.

He’s even been underrated, if that’s possible. A modest and low-key person who’s not after the limelight, who’s not making the news outside the rink, Ojanen has always been there, but just not in the centre of attention.

He’s made the SM-liiga All-Star Team just once, in 2002, when it was impossible to bypass him. He’s never been elected best player in Finland – a title that Jari Kurri and Teemu Selänne have subscribed to most of Ojanen’s career. He’s been the player of the months just twice, in December 1993, and February 1995.

When Ojanen went down with a thigh injury last winter, he was tied with Arto Javanainen as first in SM-liiga all-time scoring.

He underwent surgery, contemplated his future as a hockey player, and then announced his return late in the summer. Eleven months after his injury, Ojanen was back in action, chasing that one point that would make him the all-time scoring leader in Finland.

“I haven’t thought about the point too much,” Ojanen told Finnish Aamulehti on the eve of his first game against Ässät Pori, the alma mater of Javanainen, and the team Ojanen played his first SM-liiga game against.

“It’ll come when I play as well as I know I can. What’s important is that the team starts collecting wins,” he said.

He went six games without a point, then picked up an assist to Kim Strömberg’s goal against Lukko Rauma. It was his 865th game in the SM-liiga, and the assist was his 511th, giving him a total of 793 points. Ojanen has most assists, while Javanainen still holds the all-time goal scoring record.

“Janne’s record will last forever,” Javanainen said.

Maybe, maybe not, but right now, Ojanen has a safe lead in the race. Vesa Viitakoski, the first active player behind him on the all-time list, has 529 points, or 266 fewer points than Tappara’s Number Eight.

So, for once - and surely, if not forever, at least a long time into the future – Ojanen will be the one all other SM-liiga players will be looking up to.]]> SM-liiga http://www.ristopakarinen.com/hockey/index.php?itemid=219 Sat, 9 Jan 2010 20:11:51 +0100 http://www.ristopakarinen.com/hockey/?itemid=218
In 1994, the team had a couple of new faces: Ville Peltonen, Saku Koivu, and Jere Lehtinen made their Olympic debut as Finland pushed Canada to its heels in the semifinal and beat Russia in the bronze medal game.

In 2010, the trio is a part of the veteran core of the team, down a notch from their former first line status. Lehtinen, 36, will be playing in his fifth Olympic tournament, while Koivu, 35, and Peltonen, 36, missed the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City. That’s also the one tournament since 1994 that Finland did finish in the medals in.

Team Finland head coach Jukka Jalonen chose an experienced team with 18 NHLers on the roster. Of the five non-NHLers, one, Janne Niskala, plays in the Swedish Elitserien, and the remaining four in the Russian KHL.

While Anaheim Ducks’ Saku Koivu was named captain, this time, the main offense is expected to come from the line centred by his brother, Minnesota Wild’s Mikko Koivu - the leading Finnish scorer in the NHL, with ten goals and 38 points in 40 games, 23rd in the league - with Valtteri Filppula and Tuomo Ruutu helping along the way.

Of course, Teemu Selanne is still, at 39, “the Finnish Flash” who’s integral for his team’s offense, especially on the powerplay.

But Finland has never played firewagon hockey, where skilled forwards have skated around the opposing defensemen. The foundation of Finland’s success has always been stellar goaltending. In 2006, Antero Niittymäki stepped up from the shadows when Miikka Kiprusoff declined the invitation to play in the Olympics. Niittymäki is back, as is Niklas Bäckström, but this time, so is “Kipper”, the 2006 Vezina Trophy winner in the NHL.

Unlike Sweden and Russia, coach Jalonen picked seven defenseman and 13 forwards. Team Sweden and Russia opted for eight defensemen and 12 forwards.]]> Finland http://www.ristopakarinen.com/hockey/index.php?itemid=218 Wed, 30 Dec 2009 16:11:04 +0100 http://www.ristopakarinen.com/hockey/?itemid=217 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

Come on, the Blackhawks take on the Red Wings at Wrigley Field? The air will be so thick of ghosts of sports legends past – and the ice of stars of today – that the sun won’t shine through it. The rivalry between the teams is so great that the Winter Classic II is bound to be a wonderful event.

But when it’s time, the third installment of the Winter Classic – the WCIII – it won’t be easy to take it up a notch again. There are only so many classic teams and classic venues, even in America.

In my mind, I can see a real classic – a true battle, a cold war, if you will – where there’s more at stake than just decent ratings on network television and where retro jerseys won’t be the only thing that makes people talk. Everything must be upped: the rivalry, the venue, the whole meaning of the game.

I’m talking about a cold, cold game between the NHL All-Stars and the Russian Kontinentalnaya Hokkeynaya Liga (KHL) All-Stars. At stake: world domination. Winner takes all.

Loser gets Alexander Radulov.

The Russian league has made a lot of noise recently, signing Jaromir Jagr and Ray Emery, and fighting the NHL for other free agents – and even some agents that are not so free. There’s been a lot of talk about money, control, and power. Meetings have been held, blogs have been written, and press releases have been sent.

A Winter Classic is the best way to settle the score.

I see beautiful retro sweaters. The NHL is wearing orange, and the KHL is wearing black. All black, from head to toe. The NHLers have mullets.

I see a European sized rink.

Because I see that the venue is in Russia.

My vision carries me over the Atlantic, over Europe, over Moscow, high over the Red Square because the WCIII will be played in Siberia. Of course.

I see a pond. No, the vision gets clearer. It’s not a pond, it’s Lake Baikal, the world’s biggest, deepest, and oldest lake.

I see the best players in the world circling in their own zones, eyeballing each other when they meet at center ice.

I see Bobby Hull dropping the puck in the ceremonial face-off. (I can also totally see Bobby Hull as the commissioner of the KHL, but that’s another vision).

I see nobody in the stands.

I see that there are no stands because, hey, this is Siberia, after all. (But I do see a Starbucks).

I see people gathering outside appliance stores on the streets of Helsinki, Stockholm, Moscow, New York, Prague, Bratislava, Washington, DC, Chicago, Detroit, Toronto, Ottawa, Nashville, Barcelona, Rio de Janeiro, Bangkok, and Sydney. No, not Nashville. Anyway, they’re all watching the game nervously, and bonding.

I see Alexander Medvedev, the KHL president, sitting on the KHL bench, with a white cat in his lap.

And I see the referee: It’s Rene Fasel, the renaissance man from Switzerland, a former referee and a former dentist, and the current long-time president of the International Ice Hockey Federation.

But first, the Red Wings and the Blackhawks at Wrigley Field. That’s going to be good, too.
]]> Hockey http://www.ristopakarinen.com/hockey/index.php?itemid=217 Mon, 28 Dec 2009 13:54:51 +0100 http://www.ristopakarinen.com/hockey/?itemid=214
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.

I really should take you with me sometime, so you would see me play. It’s not great hockey, and I’m not as fast as I once was - still fast enough for those games, though, being the youngest player on my team - but I would like to open that door for you.

People often ask me - knowing that I write about hockey - if you play. And I tell them that you don’t seem to be interested in hockey at all. Remember the time we did go to a game at the Globe Arena in Stockholm? You had a stack of comics with you.

Would I want you to play hockey?

Let’s just say that I am perfectly fine with your not playing. It’s a special world that you need to find out about on your own.

I was eight when a friend of mine told me at school that the local hockey team was looking for players, and that he’d go. I must have told Grandma and Grandpa about it, because the same week I found myself standing at the local market square, waiting for a car to pick me up for the first practice. And after that, I’d be standing there every Thursday, in almost-full hockey gear, with a twenty in my pocket, to pay for the ice time.

A few months into the first season, Grandpa cut a deal with the coach, saying that he’d pay when he came to pick me up, so I didn’t have to have that twenty anymore.

I try to think back, and reach back to those first memories. Why did I enjoy playing so much? Did I? I must have because I always wanted to go back, because I played hockey after school, and because when Grandpa found me another team, I was just happy to play for two teams that spring.

I read about hockey, I wrote about hockey, I watched games on TV - although, at that time, the TV was in black and white, and we only had two channels - and I talked hockey with friends.

So it went. My school year coinciding with the hockey season, years rolled on.

We played, a lot. We traveled across Finland, playing in tournaments all over the place, staying at schools, and hotels, making friends, running around the rinks in almost-full equipment between our own games.

And we won and lost. We collected medals and we collected mental scars. And we watched way too many Chuck Norris movies on the bus.

Of course, it wasn’t all fun. Hockey is a rough sport, and there are certainly things I don’t like about it. There’s a culture, a way of doing things, that is - well - repulsive. It’s a man’s world, with everything that comes with it. The good, but also the bad that is acting macho and being ruthless.

Even as a kid, I heard people, both opposing coaches and spectators, screaming that somebody should “nail that number 17.”

And what may be even more troubling is that at the time, I carried the attention like a badge of honor. I was so good that the other team was ready to do anything to stop me.

Fortunately for you, they didn’t succeed. There was the time when a friend of mine was thrown out of the game for kicking an opponent. I don’t really know if he did, I honestly didn’t see it - and sure can’t remember it now - but what was crazy about it was that nobody on our team had seen it. No coach ever sees his own player doing anything stupid.

Of course they’re lying. And I’m not sure if it’s worth it.

There were coaches I didn’t get along with. Coaches that called me names, coaches who thought I was too small and weren’t shy to tell me that. Plus, when Grandpa was the coach, it wasn’t always such a treat to be the coach’s son. Not even when I did my best, and played well.

People always tell you to make sure you put school first. That’s what I’ll tell you, although I don’t have to, you seem to love it anyway. Well, so did I.

One year, I had a coach who told us after pre-season that that would be the year of “stupid hockey” and that “anybody with a grade point average over 9 wouldn’t play”. (Our scale was from 4 to 10). Only one player had that. He didn’t play much.

And he didn’t like it.

But I still liked the game, so I stuck it out.

I thought hockey was the greatest game on Earth. I thought my friends were funny and witty, I thought the people yelling stupid things in the stands were just a tiny minority, and I thought we were pretty cool.

Especially compared to my friends who played bandy. Hockey was the most popular sport even then.

From where I was standing - or skating - girls seemed to think we were pretty cool, too.

But in high school, I started to hear other voices. People I liked and thought should have known better would come to me and say, “you’re really a nice guy … even if you’re a hockey player”, or, “I can’t believe you play hockey … you’re such a smart guy.”

And they would all talk about fights.

I didn’t understand what they were talking about. Sure, I had seen a lot of fights, but I had never had a fight. Not in the rink, or outside it. Still haven’t. And I guess that’s how you have to look at it. You can’t worry about others, but just make sure you do the best you can, play as hard as you can, and carry yourself so that you (and me and Mom) can be proud.

People will say and do stupid things, and I know you’re smart enough to recognize them and so I hope you’re strong enough to not follow the stupid crowd.

Hockey gave me a lot of friends. My best friends have played hockey with me, and the hockey world keeps sending interesting people my way. Hockey gave me confidence, good times, kept me from getting fat, and it made me appreciate the success of a team effort.

But there are good friends and interesting people everywhere. At school, gymnastics class, your chess club. Hockey is not special in that way. Excelling at anything gives you confidence, and I bet choir singing or theatre also teach you a lot about collaborating with others, both boys and girls.

After my game last night, as I was walking from the hockey rink to our car, I saw a bandy match played on the outdoor ice, and I thought it looked like fun. And I asked myself whether I should push you into playing that. Or hockey. Or whether I should make sure you won’t play hockey.

I don't know.

Maybe we can go skating tomorrow. Pass the puck around, shoot a bit, maybe play a game of shinny.

That’s always fun.

See if you think so, too.

Love,
Dad]]> Hockey http://www.ristopakarinen.com/hockey/index.php?itemid=214 Sun, 13 Dec 2009 21:41:12 +0100 http://www.ristopakarinen.com/hockey/?itemid=213 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.

Fredrik Bremberg, the skilled Swedish forward, on the other hand, had left Djurgården Stockholm, a team he had led in scoring for each of the past four seasons. He collected 215 points in 207 games with Djurgården, won the league scoring title in 2007, and finished second, fourth, and eighth in the other three seasons.

But this season, Bremberg wanted to have a change of scenery. After all, he also leads the Elitserien in all-time scoring, so he signed with Atlant Mytishchi in the KHL – only to get the boot in the middle of the pre-season.

By late October, Jokerit was dead last in the SM-liiga, and Bremberg back in Sweden, working out on his own, and their needs met. Jokerit needed a skilled forward to create some offence, and Bremberg needed somewhere to play.

The all-Finnish Jokerit welcomed the Swedish puck juggler with open arms.

“To be honest, I didn’t know much about the Finnish league, but at the same time, I hadn’t played in two months. I just knew that they play more straightforward here, it’s more up-and-down hockey. But it’s a good league, for sure,” Bremberg told IIHF.com after a recent home game in the Hartwall Areena.

In his first five games, Bremberg, playing in the same line with Esa Pirnes and Jukka Hentunen – both returning to Finland from the KHL, collected nine points, and climbed to third in team scoring.

“What a player!” said Jokerit’s then-coach Hannu Aravirta after Bremberg’s first game.

“‘Junkkan’s passes were unbelievable,” he was quoted as saying, showing signs of still getting to know the new addition, “Linkan” by a nickname that has stayed since Fredrik’s last name was Lindquist.

“In the beginning, I hadn’t played in a long time, so I wasn’t at my best, but now everything’s back to normal. Of course, when the team loses, the players’ confidence erodes and they’re a little afraid to do some things, but at least we’ve taken some points,” he said.

Bremberg’s contract covered only games until the Christmas break, with an option for him to leave after each game. Still, Bremberg didn’t think of himself as simply a hired gun.

“The club and the team have welcomed me so I think I’m a part of the team,” he said, even if he admitted that he was entertaining other options as well.

“We’re talking to a few clubs,” he said, grinning.

Then, a week later and with just two games before the Christmas break, the club – having already replaced Aravirta with the Finnish U20 national team head coach Hannu Jortikka – announced that it had signed Brember to a contract that covers the remainder of the season as well. His 18 points in 15 games are second most in team scoring. Hentunen has collected 23 points in 28 games.

“I really like it here. Besides, I had decided to play abroad this season so this option felt good. The rinks are a little smaller here (than in Sweden) and I think it’s good for me; I’m closer to the net all the time,” he told Aftonbladet.

“Who knows where I’ll play next season, maybe I’ll return to Sweden,” he added.

There’s just no reading the guy. On or off the ice.]]> SM-liiga http://www.ristopakarinen.com/hockey/index.php?itemid=213 Sat, 12 Dec 2009 20:50:20 +0100 http://www.ristopakarinen.com/hockey/?itemid=212 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.

After all, Mårtensson had won the scoring title, Weinhandl had been the runner-up and with his 35 goals in 54 games, the league’s leading goal scorer. Johansson had signed with Linköping upon his return from the NHL, but instead of taking the team back to the final, the trio chose to play in Russia.

Weinhandl’s club Dynamo Moscow was a legendary club in the Soviet times. The alma mater of such great forwards as Alexei Yashin, Vladimir Yurzinov, and Alexander Maltsev – an idol of Alexander Ovechkin, another Dynamo player.

Weinhandl is quickly becoming another name on the list of great forwards that have played in the Moscow club. A sniper all through his career Weinhandl has now emerged as one of the top scorer in the KHL, arguably the second-best league in the world. Weinhandl has 13 goals, 29 points in 24 games with Dynamo, playing in line with Jiri Hudler, the former Detroit Red Wing.

His 29 points is just four shy of his last season’s total.

Weinhandl finished last season well, leading Team Sweden in scoring at the World Championship in Switzerland in May, when he collected 12 points – five goals – in nine games en route to the bronze medals. He was also Sweden’s leading scorer in the 2008 World Championship in Quebec City.

“Last year, I suffered an injury and I actually think I was playing just as well as now after my return, but of course, second year is a little easier, especially outside the rink. They have taken really good care of us,” Weinhandl told IIHF.com from his home in the outskirts of Moscow.

“And then, of course, I’ve played in a great line here,” he added.

The 29-year-old forward and his girlfriend are so happy with life in the Russian capital that he’s already considering an extension of his contract. But with two years remaining in his contract with Linköping, things get a little complicated. The club would like to re-rent him, to be sure that they will be compensated for it, which would not be the case should Weinhandl sign with an NHL club.

Right now, though, the Swedish sniper is enjoying life on top of the European hockey world.

“The league is really good, and gets better with every new great player. It’s not the NHL, but the level of play is higher than in the Swedish Elitserien. It’s a little faster here so I hope to keep developing as a player,” he says.

The differences between being a pro player in Sweden and in Russia aren’t as big as one might think, says Weinhandl.

“Of course, we worked hard in the pre-season, but that we did in Sweden as well. Of course, some of the road trips are a ot longer than in Sweden, when it’s an eight-hour flight.

“But hockey is similar, if a little faster here, and the players are more skilled so you have to be aware and alert at all times. Hockey may be a little more tactical in Sweden, and the teams stick to their systems more. Of course, every team always has a system that needs to be followed but over here, it’s more run-and-gun which I like,” he says.

“Looking at the sweaters and the photos of the players that have played here, you can tell that Dynamo is a legendary club, even if a lot has happened since the Soviet days. The atmosphere in our games against the CSKA is wonderful, the fans are really loud in their support,” says Weinhandl.

Currently, “Маттиас Вейнхандль” is doing great in the KHL scoring race, and his Dynamo is third in the Western Conference. Its archrival, the legendary CSKA Moscow is seventh, hanging onto a playoff spot.]]> KHL http://www.ristopakarinen.com/hockey/index.php?itemid=212 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:05:00 +0100