Here's one from NHL.com. Click here if you want to see it as is in the wild, or keep reading below.

Back in the day, when Finns dominated the world’s car racing circuit, an adage was born: "You need a Finn to win." It hasn't been as apt in the NHL, with only seven Finnish Stanley Cup winners, and with the first three earning their rings with the same team, the Edmonton Oilers dynasty of the 1980s.

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I don’t know how many hours I’ve spent playing hockey, and even less, how many hours I’ve spent sitting in a locker room, or in the parking lot, talking to teammates about the games, and … stuff.
Or how many hours I’ve spent watching, listening to, or reading about hockey.

Let’s just say that I started about 35 years ago, and haven’t quit yet.

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Here's one from the archives, from the pages of Off The Post. A story about Father, Son, and the Stanley Cup.

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Finnish goaltender Antti Niemi is one of the big stories in this year's Stanley Cup Playoffs. I wrote a piece about him for The Hockey News June 7 issue:

"One day, my father called me to tell me he had been at the local rink to see a junior game and had seen a goalie that impressed him," said Markus Lehto, Niemi's Helsinki-based European agent. "My father is no super scout, but he used to be the CEO of another rink and a team manager with Jokerit, so he knows his hockey."
Still, when his father mentioned "Antti Niemi," Lehto thought his dad was kidding. The only Antti Niemi he knew was the Finnish national soccer team's goalkeeper. But Lehto made a note and went to see the kid.

Read the story here (pdf, 3.1MB).

Well, yeah, I guess I can do anything.

It's playoff time and those not playing anymore just have to hit the links.

» Finland Squeaks by Germany

» Nummelin In a One-Man Club

» Born To Be a Goalie

» Russia Starts Road to Gold

» The Little (Red) Engine That Can

» Danish Shock Therapy

Hear the one about Ville Koistinen?

No? See here.

Or, click on, I've pasted my NHL.com story below.

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On Wednesday, September 30, 2009, on the day that the NHL teams had to file their rosters, and make the final cuts, Mats Sundin announced his retirement at the Grand Hotel in Stockholm, Sweden. Grand Hotel is the hotel where the Nobel Prize laureats spend their time in Stockholm when they come to town to collect the award in December. That’s where the stars stay when in Stockholm. Across a small bay, there is the Royal Palace where the King of Sweden has his office.

Some 15 kilometers north of Grand Hotel, there is Edsbacka krog, one of two restaurants with two Michelin stars in Sweden. The inn is in the heart of Sollentuna, next to the Edsbergs castle, which in turn overlooks Edsviken, the Baltic Sea bay, a beautiful public park where Swedes go for picnics, and walks and runs, and, on the other side of the water, a hockey arena.

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Quiet here?

This is why:

Sean Simpson channels Herb Brooks?
Sulander gets belated respect
"No love for Hallenstadion"
"We underestimated them"
"ZSC on top of the world"
For Sulander, it's now or never

And now I'm in Finland, my old country.

Just as this year's Stanley Cup winners are graduating, I found this little speech I've never been invited to give. And never will be. So, you can read it here. (Here's a pdf, to print out and read on the train/bus/hammock).

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Just a reminder: Puckarinen has updated his blog today. It's just under this one, have a look:

Here's this week's "I on Europe" from The Hockey News.

Here, that is.

Remember the media empire? Not? Well, here's my latest from the other blog.

It’s not you, Ovie, it’s me. Really. You’re a fine, no, amazing, wonderful player, and a really knee-slapping funny guy, but somehow, in some strange way, I just don’t feel it.

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Here's my latest from IIHF.com. Click here, or continue reading after the jump.

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Here's my latest from IIHF.com.



Read it here, or continue reading below.

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Here's one from the nhl.com blog archives. Read here or below.

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There are no real excuses for not updating here. I've been very busy, but still. Here's my latest from IIHF.com. Enjoy.

Back – and in business. Sami Kapanen returned home to take care of business the only way he knows how: full speed ahead.

Read the story here, or continue reading below.

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Here's my latest from nhl.com.

Can you fit a puck in your mouth? I think I still can. I haven’t tried it for a few years – like, say, fifteen – but I have eye witnesses who can testify that I definitely could fit a puck in my mouth in high school. And no, nobody forced it down my throat. It was just a friendly little competition.

Click here or just continue reading below.

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Here's my latest from nhl.com.

Looking at them also gave me an idea for an amazing car game for hockey nerds. You know, a game you play on the road. Not an away game. A car game you play while getting to your road game, a game you can play in the car, on your way to see Aunt Greta, with the kids.

Read it here, or continue reading below.

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Here's my latest on IIHF.com.

The reasons may be deep-rooted in the culture, and the enforcers may also be just a fad. But Finns are a tough people who respect hard work, perseverance, and raw power. The weak will fall on the road of life, a Finnish proverb goes.

Read it here, or continue reading below.

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Had a nice chat with Jaroslav Hlinka the other day.

If I don’t have fun or don’t like to play, hockey becomes just like regular work and you just do it for the money. Money is important, everybody cares about it but I want to have a lot of fun during the season as well.

See the whole story here or keep reading below.

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Lucas, the multitalented hockey dude, has thrown his hat in the ring and composed a new theme song for Hockey Night in Canada.



MacGyver shoots, he scores!

Finns love hockey. Really. I'm repeating myself, I just said the same thing in my latest piece on IIHF.com. Well, read it here, or below.

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Hockey is Canada, and Canada is hockey. Here's a little something I wrote for iihf.com during the World Championship in Quebec City in May.

“The Canadian coaching training is excellent, and Canadian coaches are willing to learn new things all the time. I’m 60 years old and I’m still learning,” adds Goulet, smiling.

Read it here or continue reading below.

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About 15 years ago, the National Hockey League was a dynamic, outward-reaching league that had big plans for expansion. Not only to Tampa Bay, Nashville, and Columbus, Ohio, where it subsequently arrived, but also to the quirky and fascinating place a lot of the players seemed to be coming from.

“Europe.”

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Hey, I just updated my NHL.com blog!

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.

Click here or read the piece below.

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All of a sudden, right out of the blue, there's another entry on the NHL.com! In the middle of the summer! Excellent. Read it here, or just click below to get to my piece.

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Even with a gentlemen’s agreement between the NHL and the IIHF in place, players find a way to leave Europe. Read my IIHF.com piece here or after the jump.

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Got something on iihf.com today.

The Nordic Trophy, a preseason series between five Finnish and five Swedish teams, might be a precursor to the ultimate dream, a pipe dream if you wish, of merging the Finnish and Swedish leagues.

Read it here, or below.

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Saw this piece of news today:

Maxim Mamin, 20, tested positive in a random doping control on January 2, 2008, following the game Russia – Czech Republic at the 2008 IIHF World U20 Championship in Pardubice, Czech Republic. Both the A-sample as well as the requested test of the B-sample confirmed the presence of norandrosterone, a metabolite of the anabolic steroid nandrolone.

And my mind raced straight to Dave King's book King of Russia...

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Hockey season 2007-08 is now officially over. For my take on Game 6, click here, or continue reading after the jump.

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Last year, Anaheim Ducks won the Stanley Cup with 16 Canadians on its roster and early on, it seemed that other NHL teams were cranking out Ducks copies in an attempt to win the Stanley Cup. And here we are again, with Detroit winning the Stanley Cup, with eight Swedes on its roster, and at least four, five, ok, let’s make it six, fine, seven, in prominent roles on the team.

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You know I have a soft spot for hockey Dads. I've got one, and I am one.

You know what I mean.

Recovering from the Worlds, getting ready for the Stanley Cup Finals.



Read the whole thing at nhl.com or below.

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Here's a little thing about Evgeni N.

Just a quick note about tonight's game. Here's the preview.

QUEBEC CITY – It’s a year of reruns. Both semi-final matchups are the same as last year. Canada meets Sweden, the land of system hockey. Shane Doan is the Canadian captain, Kenny Jonsson the captain of Team Sweden. Canada beats Sweden 4-1.
Well, that would be getting ahead of things.

The whole piece is here.

It's taken us two weeks to find out that Slovenia and Italy will be relegated from the top division and that Russia, Sweden, Finland, Canada, the US, the Czech Republic, and Switzerland will play in the quarterfinals.

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This could be fun:

"A Champions Alumni Game with former hockey stars will be played when the current World Championship players have a day off, on May 15 at 19:00 at the Colisée Pepsi. Like last year, coaching legend Scotty Bowman will headline the coaching staff. Other coaches include Lou Vairo, Geraldine Heaney, and Barry Smith.

World Stars roster: Goalies: Sean Burke (CAN), Bobby Farrelly (USA). Skaters: Glenn Anderson (CAN), Jim Balsillie (CAN), Philippe Bozon (FRA), Doug Brown (USA), Ray Ferraro (USA), Mark Fusco (USA), Cammi Granato (USA), Raimo Helminen (FIN), Jyrki Lumme (FIN), Angela James (CAN), Jari Kurri (FIN), Igor Larionov (RUS), Vladimir Malakhov (RUS), Mats Naslund (SWE), Patrick Roy (CAN), Esa Tikkanen (FIN), Scott Young (USA)."

Ironically, or, paradoxically, or just surprisingly, I've come to appreciate the small hockey nations more now that I've seen them up close for a few days.

Anyway, here are a couple of things I wrote today.

Nicklas Bäckström.

Goalie clowns.

I seem to be on a Dane streak. Here's my latest story, on the Danes, on iihf.com.

Closing the gap

Edit: Here's a recap of Sweden v France game.

The best World Championship site is iihf.com, so check it out. I'll just throw here these two previews that have been posted, and will post some more behind-the-scenes stuff here in the future. Like how I saw a young woman interview Team Russia's assistant coach, interrupt the interview for a second, lean towards the coach, and wipe his cheek clean from bread crumbles, then continue with the interview.

But here are the previews:

Finnish Lions and Tre Kronor.

Here's my latest blog entry on nhl.com.

Hopefully, Avery’s initiative is an inspiration to other NHLers, wondering what to do when there’s no need to hang around the rink anymore. And, well, here are a few suggestions for internships that might be a great match.

Read it here or after the jump.

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Here's a piece I wrote for The Hockey News a couple of months ago but forgot to post here. Anyway, this is Victor Hedman. Don't worry, you'll hear that name again in the future, many times.

Click the image to get the pdf.

Cough, cough. Dusting off the old archives again. The Bruins took the Habs to Game 7, so I'd better get this one out while I can.

Without further ado: "Maybe not this year, but Koivu will return to glory" on ESPN.com in May, 2006.

HV71 took home the Swedish championship last night.

It would take a leap of faith and a lot of courage to call Johan Davidsson’s playoff beard and moustache cool. Yes, that style was cool in the 1620s when d’Artagnan and Arhos, Portos, and Aremis were involved in the English-French intrigues, but maybe now is not the time to bring it back.

Here's my take on that.

Yes, the World Championship tournament begins in 14 days.

And don’t forget, every May, the World Championship gives thousands of hockey fans a nice excuse to travel around the world, mostly in Europe, see some great hockey, paint their faces in their national colors, and enjoy life.

Click the image to get my take on the tournament in this week's Hockey News.

Ovechkin fever is raging in Russia. I spoke with a couple of Russian fans today.

"I've been an NHL fan since 1994 and I try to follow it every possible way. I read NHL.com, TSN and ESPN, I even followed the Ducks run to the Cup in 2003, but back then, it was impossible to watch the games at home, and the only place to see them was a fancy sports casino," Shelestenko says.

Here's the story.

Three years ago, Kenny Jönsson came to Sweden to play during the lockout. Last night, his Rogle took the step back to the Swedish Elite League. Here's what Jönsson had to say about things in 2005, when his NHL comrades had returned to North America and he stayed with the small club, one step below the Elite League.

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