My hometown boys making NHL history (Philly - Calgary)

Kekkonen · 12-07-2005, 11:53 AM

Yesterday's game between the Flyers and the Flames was the first game in the NHL where there was no scoring until the shootout. Both goalies (Philly's Niittymäki and Kiprusoff of Calgary) are from my hometown (and in their time, they've both led the hometown team to a national championship over here in Finland). What's more, they put on the show on Dec 6th, which happens to be our independence day.

kq76 · 12-07-2005, 12:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kekkonen

Yesterday's game between the Flyers and the Flames was the first game in the NHL where there was no scoring until the shootout. Both goalies (Philly's Niittymäki and Kiprusoff of Calgary) are from my hometown (and in their time, they've both led the hometown team to a national championship over here in Finland). What's more, they put on the show on Dec 6th, which happens to be our independence day.

Hey, that's pretty cool on your Independence Day.

From Russia I presume?

Do a lot of Europeans from hockey nations regularly keep up on what's happening in the NHL or are you just one of the rare ones?

Kekkonen · 12-07-2005, 12:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kq76

Hey, that's pretty cool on your Independence Day.

From Russia I presume?

Finland. Even Kiprusoff is Finnish, despite the name (his great-great-great- etc. -grandpa was a Russian merchant who set up shop here).

Quote:

Do a lot of Europeans from hockey nations regularly keep up on what's happening in the NHL or are you just one of the rare ones?

At least Finns and Swedes do. We even have a joint Scandinavian cable movie/sports channel which broadcasts 3-4 live NHL games a week. The Philly-Calgary game was on last night, but the timing is pretty inconvenient for those of us with fairly standard work hours.

reds1 · 12-07-2005, 01:20 PM

My favourite Finnish player is from Helsinki. His rookie season was pretty special.

ill16ca · 12-07-2005, 01:20 PM

Man, it seems like every Finnish player is from Turku!

kq76 · 12-07-2005, 02:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kekkonen

Finland.

I meant who did you get your independence from. A quick search shows it was from Russia.

Any idea why hockey is not as popular in Norway as it is in those other Scandinavian countries? I've always wondered that.

Kekkonen · 12-07-2005, 02:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kq76

Any idea why hockey is not as popular in Norway as it is in those other Scandinavian countries? I've always wondered that.

The only explanation I can offer is there hasn't traditionally been time for anything else in wintertime, because they're so totally nuts about skiing. And you don't understand how totally nuts they are about it unless you've been in Oslo on a sunny winter weekend. The city (and it's a big one by Scandinavian standards, population at around 500k) is absolutely deserted at noon because everyone's left for the mountains or tracks by 10 am.

Kekkonen · 12-07-2005, 02:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reds1

My favourite Finnish player is from Helsinki. His rookie season was pretty special.

The funny thing about Selänne is that he was never a dominant player here. Sure, he was considered very good, but you'd think that a guy who scores 70+ goals in the NHL would basically do whatever he wants whenever he wants against the opposition in our league (which was, by the way, just transforming itself from semi-professional to fully professional at the time he left for Canada).

reds1 · 12-07-2005, 04:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kekkonen

The funny thing about Selänne is that he was never a dominant player here. Sure, he was considered very good, but you'd think that a guy who scores 70+ goals in the NHL would basically do whatever he wants whenever he wants against the opposition in our league (which was, by the way, just transforming itself from semi-professional to fully professional at the time he left for Canada).

What I remember most from that period was the anticipation hockey fans here had of this highly touted player finally showing up in a Winnipeg Jets' uniform. He was drafted in 1988 (10th overall) but didn't get here until 1992. He had some military commitments to fulfill I believe.
Well, anyway, expectations were high for the Finnish Flash to perform, but he exceeded them all, scoring 76 goals and 132 points in his rookie season. Man was he fun to watch!

Unfortunately, he suffered a serious leg injury in his sophomore season which seemed to do more damage to his psyche than to his leg. He never was the same again in a Jets uniform after that.

12-07-2005, 11:53 AM	#1
Kekkonen All Star Reserve Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Putting the 'in' in Finland Posts: 739	My hometown boys making NHL history (Philly - Calgary) Yesterday's game between the Flyers and the Flames was the first game in the NHL where there was no scoring until the shootout. Both goalies (Philly's Niittymäki and Kiprusoff of Calgary) are from my hometown (and in their time, they've both led the hometown team to a national championship over here in Finland). What's more, they put on the show on Dec 6th, which happens to be our independence day.

12-07-2005, 01:20 PM	#4
reds1 Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2002 Location: Winnipeg Posts: 3,985	My favourite Finnish player is from Helsinki. His rookie season was pretty special.

12-07-2005, 01:20 PM	#5
ill16ca All Star Reserve Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Montreal Posts: 690	Man, it seems like every Finnish player is from Turku!