Pay it forward

Even before my father had uttered a word, I knew what he was going to say next. I had heard it before, and always in a voice about two octaves lower than his own because that’s the tone he had heard it in the first time, some 30 years ago.

We were at a hockey game, when I mentioned to him that I’d be going to Turku to interview Juuso Wahlsten. As soon as “Wahlsten” had left my lips, I saw the twinkle in Dad’s eyes, the lightbulb over his head, just like I had seen many times before over the years.

“It’s not every day you see a junior team play such good hockey,” Dad said.

Scotty Bowman (left) wanted Juuso as assistant coach in Buffalo. Twice. The man in the background is not my  father.

That’s what “Juuso” Wahlsten told him in his distinct low voice at a cold Helsinki rink after our team had won a game against a Turku team.

Wahlsten was already a legend in Finnish hockey, having played in several World Championships and two Olympics, and the year after that encounter with my father, he returned to the Finnish elite league when he became the head coach of TPS in his hometown Turku.

To my father, a young, aspiring coach who had just finished his studies at the sports institute, that was highest possible praise. We were just kids, and the game wasn’t important, but obviously, whatever he was trying to teach us, he was doing it well.

That one sentence has stayed with him – and with me – for 30 years. For Dad, hearing that one sentence was probably better than any medal he won or degree he’s got because it came from a true hockey thinker.

This morning, I sat across the table from “Juuso”, with the tape rolling. I was in Turku to interview him about the 1965 World Championships, the first such tournament hosted by Finland. I leaned back in my chair and listened to Wahlsten, now 74, as he took me through the tournament and then the history of hockey in Finland and the history of the game.

At the end of our session, he wanted to sign his memoir for me, and as he wrote it, I told him about that day in Helsinki all those years ago, and how we still talk about it.

He stopped writing in mid-sentence, in the middle of a word, and looked up.

“That one sentence made one young coach very happy,” I said.

He smiled.

“I’ve always said that we should let people know when they do good things, and be positive,” he said.

“Thank you,” he added, and finished writing the dedication to the book.

It says, “To Risto, a hockey culture journalist of a new generation, best wishes, Juuso”.

That’s my sentence.

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