That’s what I should have said

Posted on April 9, 2008 by Risto

There he was, sitting by the curb, with a little cup in front of him. Well, sitting is not the right word. He was on his knees, with his arms extended, palms pressed together. He was from Romania, said the cardboard sign in front of him.

I pulled him up and asked him to come with me. I was going to the coffee shop anyway. Here we are now, I’m blogging away, and he, Hristo, seems to like brownies. He’s already had three of them, and a huge caffe latte.

But, soon, we’ll have to go. I have to go to a hockey game, and he back to work.

NHL.com: Team

Posted on April 8, 2008 by Risto

I’ve been talking about winning with a lot of hockey players and coaches in the last two three weeks. The interesting thing is that winning isn’t the only thing for them. I find that comforting. When we kick the ball for the first time, or stand in the snow watching others play hockey, it’s not about winning, is it?

On that note, let’s walk down the Memory Lane, and see if we can’t find my first hockey sweater there. Keep reading it below, or here.

Continue reading →

Rocking days

Posted on April 7, 2008 by Risto

In 1977, I bought my first LP. I took bus number 64 to downtown Helsinki and walked to the pharmacy slash record store across the street from the market. Now, I already had a bunch of tapes at home, but this was the first real record I bought.

It came down to two records: The Happy Days album “Fonzie’s favorites” and Elvis’s “The Rocking Days.” After a long deliberation, I chose Elvis. I mean, he was The King, and even if I didn’t know it then, he had the record for most number one hit singles on the Billboard 100 chart back then, 17.

Then, the Beatles topped him, and got 20.

And now, Mariah Carey stepped on Elvis’s blue suede shoes when she scored her 18th number one hit.

The Fonz writes children’s books. Heyyyy!

Hockey.com: Belfour

Posted on April 6, 2008 by Risto

Here’s a little something I was thinking about today. It’s a little story about Ed Belfour whom I happen to like, but who’s been a little unlucky recently.

Just two games earlier, Belfour had shut out Mora, Leksand’s archirival, some 30 miles from Leksand, and was celebrated as the savior he was supposed to be. In the away game against the same Mora, Belfour had a save percentage of .840 when they lost 4-3.
And then there was the game against Rogle.

Read the whole piece here.

IIHF.com: Jalonen

Posted on April 5, 2008 by Risto

Oh, here’s another one.

That would be somewhere after his monstrous 1986-87 season when he scored 93 points in 44 games but before he returned to Karpat and scored 67 points in 28 Division I games. In other words, somewhere during his TPS years when he won four Finnish championships in five years.

Read it here.

IIHF.com: All-Stars

Posted on April 4, 2008 by Risto

Here’s my latest from iihf.com:

The regular season is long gone, but let’s look back for just a second and put together an All-Star team, based on the players’ performances between October and March. Drum roll, please… And the envelope… thank you… here we go.

Read it here.

Scanorama: Future is now

Posted on April 3, 2008 by Risto

Here’s my column from the April issue of Scanorama. Happy landings!

Continue reading →

NHL.com: Let’s talk

Posted on April 2, 2008 by Risto

Another one on nhl.com, this time a little special.

I am ready. Headphones are already on, recording device probably will be ready, all I need now is you people in North America to call me at (718) 395-1775. My fellow Euros can call me at +358 9 2316 5817.
When to call me on Wednesday, April 2? I will be available to talk between 9 p.m. CET (3 pm EST) and 2 am CET (8 pm EST). After that, if you do call, feel free to leave a message, but don’t expect me to answer, I will be fast asleep.

More below or here.

Continue reading →

Anniversary

Posted on April 1, 2008 by Risto

For those keeping score: I moved to Sweden ten years ago today. Hurra!

Magic

Posted on March 31, 2008 by Risto

Two weeks ago, I read this great article in the New Yorker, about magic and magicians. Magicians fascinate me to no end. One of the centerpieces of the article, and apparently the whole magical community, is Tannen’s Magic shop in New York. (A must-see on my next trip).

The next day, I checked my website’s stats, and saw a visitor ID I hadn’t seen before. And yes, it was Tannen’s.

Magic!