Wrote a piece about Team Finland's Canadian head coach, Doug Shedden, today. Here's a quote worth remembering.

I think the players forget the fun big time, and that’s why I take them to outdoor rinks, to remind them that they didn’t play for money back then. Sometimes in this day and age we forget why we play the game. Is it for the dollars or because we love it? I never made any great money when I played, but I still loved putting the skates on, and I love players who love putting the skates on.

And besides the fact that I love to see guys who love putting the skates on put their skates on for a coach who loves players who love putting the skates on, I also agree with him.

The two young ladies were walking down the street, talking cheerfully, when a young man stepped in front of them, trying to get their attention.

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And here's my latest on IIHF.com.

The other race, the one that has people losing sleep, sweating through nights, having nightmares, acting absentminded, and losing their hair is the one that has two teams playing in a qualification series with the best teams in the Allsvenskan, the league one tier below the Elite League. And that’s just the fans. What the players, coaches, and team managers are feeling is probably worse.

That’s the Yin. The “shady place.”

Click here to read the whole piece.

Edit: And here's the song I quote in the piece.

Check out my latest on nhl.com, or read it here, after the jump.

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I'm sorry, I'm a little busy blogging right now. Are you blogging? I'm blogging.

Urban life is fast. It's dog-eat-dog, and every man (and woman) for himself (or herself). And if you need proof, go to a gym. That's where we become the animal that we are.

I know that, having spent more time at the gym than you'd think by looking at me. Inside me, though, there's a ripped and strong man.

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Today, I suddenly realized that I didn't become a pilot, a policeman, or a pro hockey player like I thought when I was a kid. Didn't become a rich businessman like I thought when I was in business school. Didn't even become a media consultant like I was told to say to clients when I switched careers for the first time.

I'm a writer. This is what I do.

Even on a Sunday.

It's in the air. Everybody's talking about the need for change. Few of us make a move. Snoopy is an inspiration.

Back to the topic of covers. Magazine covers.

ESPN The Magazine celebrates its 10 years in the business, and with good reason. The Mag is a success story in a field where we don't hear them that often.

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Moderated a roundtable discussion today, the topic being work atmosphere at a Swedish company. By the end of it, I asked the participants to give some pointers to the readers (in the same company across the world) on how one person can make the atmosphere better for everybody.

"Just be happy and stay positive," said the first.

"Yeah, I say the same," said the rest.

So easy. To forget.

The fans were cheering loudly, they were singing and chanting, and clapping, and waving their flags. For about ten minutes, they chanted something that sounded like this:

"YOAOAOYEACAMENASARKEYYAAVIYEACAMENA!"

A young man next to me was quietly chanting along, clapping his hands with the rest of them. I finally asked him, "What are they chanting, exactly?"

"I don't know," he said.

Don't forget:

The Tonight show with Leino (at iihf.com), and my nhl.com column here, or below.

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Today, I got an offer I think I'm not supposed to refuse. That's kind of scary.

Scary fun.

The Toronto Star ran an interesting piece.

Now a group of influential NHL players that includes New Jersey's Martin Brodeur, Dallas's Marty Turco, Detroit's Dominik Hasek and Edmonton's Dwayne Roloson want the league's – and inevitably the Leafs' – uniforms altered again. [S]everal NHL goalies have asked the league and its players union to consider starting a so-called Goaltender's Club. Revenue-generating initiatives for the club could include placing a corporate logo on the jerseys of the league's 60-odd goalies.

That's right. A corporate logo on the jerseys.

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The other day, I interviewed a Swedish idea guy about innovation. He was all energy, all passion, all ideas. And a lot of quotes by famous people.

This is one he threw at me:


The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.



"Michelangelo said it," he added.

Michelangelo would have made a great coach.

Tonight, my wife and I had dinner at a sweet Italian restaurant in Uppsala, after an energetic show by Jonas Gardell, a Swedish comedian (and author and entertainer).

In the table next to us, there was a group of young girls getting ready for Friday night, giggling and chatting as only young girls can. All of a sudden, I saw a man lean against the window, trying to talk to the girls.

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March 28, 2008 is the 10th anniversary of my relationship with Stockholm, give or take a few years that I spent with my first love, Helsinki. Time flies. This is a shot I took today, I'm sure you can appreciate the beauty of Stockholm.



She's still beautiful to me in that classy kind of way. She keeps surprising me, she brings me up when I'm down, and she carries me through the dark winter wrapped around in her silent strength and radiance that gives me hope of a better day. She makes me laugh, she makes me feel good about myself, she makes me proud, she makes me skip on the streets, and she gives me a sense of a purpose.

My wife, that is. She celebrates her birthday today, on Valentine's Day, as always.

But Stockholm's pretty damn nice, too, as cities go.

Here's my latest from nhl.com. Click below to get to the text, or click here to get to nhl.com.

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Quitting is underrated. When you're in the position to say those magic words, it's a pretty powerful feeling. When you do it for the right reasons.

I once had a boss I really didn't like that much. When it was time for me to leave the company, and I had got a new job, I waited a whole week before giving my one month's notice. The plan was for him to do one more annoying thing so I could stand up, raise my arms, and say, "That's it! I quit!"

And nothing could have changed my mind.

Well, that was his good week, so on Friday afternoon I had to go to his office and just tell him that I was leaving.

He looked up from his papers, smiled, and said: "Good for you."

"I know," I said.

Sony Ericsson introduced its new mobile phones at a press conference in a Stockholm hotel today.

This time I missed the free breakfast but instead, I learned something.

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Here's yet another little story about the amazing Fabian Brunnström. Well, amazing as in, "how come this kid's never been drafted or played in a junior national team."

Instead, he returned to his alma mater in Jonstorp, and took the keys to his fate in his own hands. Literally.
Brunnstrom got the keys to the Jonstorp hockey rink, and he would practice, practice, practice. "I had three or four practices a day. I practically lived at the rink," he says.

Read the whole story here.

This interesting experiment has been doing the rounds around the world as a quick way to see if you're "left or right brain," i.e. which side of the brain is the dominant one.

If the girl in the image (below) moves clockwise, you're right-brain, if counter-clockwise, you're left-brain. "Most of us would see the dancer turning anti-clockwise."

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I'll just throw this here, it's been a busy day.



Anyway, Off The Post was reviewed at the On Frozen Blog. Yeay!

His stories revolve around the players, international hockey, and his personal hockey experiences. He also describes how he quit on hockey and how, like The Godfather, he got sucked back in.... Risto’s humor and storytelling will surely entertain you.

Check out the whole review here, the OTP site here, and On Frozen Blog here.

If you've been reading about hockey online, you've definitely read Paul Kukla, the Kukla of Kukla's' Korner. He truly is the hardest-working man in the business.

And now I can tell everybody that I've been interviewed by Paul Kukla himself, and we talked about, well, hockey, and Off The Post. That book of mine.



Click here to get to the interview, and then here to get the book.

Being an avid fan can't be easy. Well, not just avid. An avid fan simply goes to all games so let me rephrase that. It can't be easy to be a rabid, raving, crazy fan that lives his (or her) life through a hockey team.

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Due to a sudden lack of motivation, there will be no updates here today. Have a great day.

Edit: Check back tomorrow, though. OK, see ya.

Edit2: But since you're here, feel free to browse older entries below, or in the archive.

Edit3: Yeah, that's me in the photo. Nice belt buckle.

I just heard that February is a non-flying month for many. Apparently, there's a group called the Feb Four, that promotes February as a non-flying month for moral, environmental, religious, and financial reasons. I must say that that was news to me. I'd never heard of the Feb Four before, but there are so many of these groups these days.

Anyway, I realized that if that's the case, you haven't seen Scanorama, the SAS in-flight magazine that I completely own in February, with the Henrik Lundqvist profile, and my usual Web & Tech stuff.

Being your Web friend, I had to do something. And this is what I decided:

Here's the link to the Henrik Lundqvist story that I posted earlier. My February Tech column from Scanorama behind the "Continued" link.

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With all the pop stars messing around, all the superstar athletes making a fool of themselves everywhere, it's heartening to know that there are still men like Raimo "Raipe" Helminen around.

The six-time Olympian, and the world record holder with his amazing 330 games with Team Finland is a good as they come.

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A great parody here.

First, the original:


Then, the parody:


And here's a reminder to check out the two previous posts before they get buried.

NHL.com: Expand the brand
Henrik The Lundqvist

Here's another one from nhl.com. I'll file it under "lighter side".

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Here it is, finally: A profile on Henrik Lundqvist, the New York Rangers' goalie. I wrote it in November, and today, you can find it in the seat pockets on every SAS flight.

And here, if you click on the image below to get the pdf.



Enjoy, happy landings!