Sel8nne Page #5

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I do not know

where the energy came from -

but I had a great night.

After the game, I wasn't even tired.

I even had

a hat trick.

How ya doin'?

- Good!

Paul Kariya and I became

good friends.

I had met him

at the all-star game -

two weeks before I was sold.

He joked that

I should play in Anaheim.

Everything Teemu did,

shooting, passing -

he did it at top speed.

I also liked to do

everything at top speed.

If I had good chemistry with a player before -

maybe he was intelligent and a good passer,

but he couldn't do it at top speed -

or maybe he was just a good goal scorer.

Teemu did everything at top speed

and at the highest level.

We just knew where

each other was on the ice.

Paul needed somebody like Teemu

to bring him out of his shell.

He was very quiet.

He needed somebody upbeat and

positive and... noisy.

I got half of my pay for my playing

and the rest because I

taught Paul to be a human.

When we got to a hotel -

he ran to the hotel

to avoid signing autographs.

I learned from Paul his

dedication to hockey -

and to everything he did.

I have never seen anything like it.

Who's gonna pay the whole bill?

I took all the cards and I

held Paul's card like this.

I squeezed it so hard

he couldn't get it.

And Paul wondered: "how I always

lose the big ones?"

You never told me that.

2012-2013 SEASON

I have often laughed

with the other women -

that the NHL is like a kindergarten.

These adult males

can't say no to anything.

Pretty demanding of your schedule and your energy

to go out there every game and trying to perform your best.

You can't find the same things

anywhere else as from your team -

and life in the NHL.

Sometimes it's a roller-coaster.

One's emotions go up and down.

It is a love-hate relationship.

It's easy to live

according to certain procedures.

You don't have to think

on something else.

Off the ice

he offers leadership.

He's a leader by nature.

Then he brings an upbeat uproach.

He is a positive guy.

Doesn't matter if you won 5 to 1

lost 8 to 1.

He's happy and excited to

be a hockey player.

He brings positive energy to the team.

It's almost impossible to replace that.

Five games, seven days.

I get to play enough.

We have two kinds of days:

game day and between days.

They are quite alike.

A game day morning workout

is optional.

I often come to the arena

not knowing whether I will practice.

A couple of meetings -

and then I go home,

eat and take a nap.

Sirpa has made pasta

on game days for 20 years.

Always quite the same.

It has always been...

- Good? - Yes.

He has a professional attitude -

towards training

and preparation.

I followed him as a young boy

and tried to learn from him.

There is pressure to win

and a fear of losing.

I'm aware of it

but I do not think about it much.

A typical thing for top athletes

is their tolerance for stress.

Some don't even know what stress is.

They are very laid back.

The guy is always smiling,

but he still is a warrior.

Physically and mentally.

He wants to win and score goals.

He is a dangerous player

because he is so fast -

and can scores from bad positions.

He makes very ugly goals -

tip-ins and rebound goals.

I have always had a sidekick

and then a third link in the chain.

Right now I have none of them.

When he's on his game, I play him a lot,

'cause I know good things are gonna happen.

If you don't need ice packs

after the game -

you haven't played hard enough.

When I get up in the morning -

I take my first steps

gently -

to see where it hurts.

It's challenging to recover quickly

after a game.

I stretch

10-15 minutes every night.

We also have

cold and hot baths.

Two minutes in both -

maybe four times,

so I get lactic acid moving.

Careers are longer nowadays -

because medicine

and especially treating injuries -

have evolved greatly.

This year, I have noticed that if we have

games two days in a row -

I don't have full energy

in the second game.

I guess my age is starting to show.

We were away for 13 days -

and for some reason

I slept poorly all the time.

A few times I thought

that this probably is my last year.

But after a few days of rest

and a good game -

you change your mind.

I realized this is pretty fun.

He won't probably stop playing

hockey until a doctor forbids him.

When we played 26 games in 44 days -

there were nights when I wasn't recovered.

I am grateful that my old

body did not give up.

I like to listen to Finnish music.

I do not know if I'm homesick -

but especially abroad

and on game trips -

music has a special significance.

When I'm driving home late at night

-

listening to Arttu Wiskari

makes me feel good.

It was June 1986,

our Sierra was almost new

Dad filled up,

mom packed lunch / i

I was already sitting in the back seat,

I smiled broadly with the seat belt on

Dingo sang about the girl in the leather jacket

My brother Paavo called me.

My father had suffered a stroke.

Fortunately, a fairly mild.

He lost feeling in his hand

and his posture was crooked.

His eyelids drooped.

Such news make you stop and think

to stay up -

especially when you live

far from Finland -

and your loved ones.

We fly often in

really bad weather -

because we have a

game the next day.

It's idiotic.

It scares me the most.

What happened last year -

has always been my biggest nightmare.

When the plane crashed in Yaroslavl -

I felt that this is not

worth playing anymore.

I lost many old teammates.

Ruslan Salej

was a really good friend of mine.

I played with Igor

Korolev in Winnipeg.

And Karpovtsev...

They were unbelievable guys.

I sharpened Teemu's skates

until he turned 12.

Most players don't know a thing about

skate sharpening and curvatures.

We were lucky enough

to get to try different versions -

and find the best one.

We tried many different options.

Many said that I sharpened them wrong.

They said that the grooves were too deep.

That human ankles can't handle it.

I was the doorman at the pub

Kosmos for 30 years.

Near the end of the second period -

I got a phone call from Ismo

Syvhuoko, the Jokerit doctor.

He said Teemu's skates need

to be sharpened.

I called a taxi

and went to the arena.

I went to the grinding room

in my suit.

I sharpened his skates, -

jumped into a taxi

and went back to work.

He sharpened 10 blades for me

before every NHL season.

We followed what he had done in Finland

and just tried to emulate that.

We developed a padding -

which was between the glove

and the elbow pad -

to protect his arms.

The ice is better in Finland -

and I used to play

with this narrower blade.

The ice in the NHL is really bad.

It turns to slush

after five minutes of play.

It was annoying

to get a good pass -

that bounced over the blade.

This makes the stick a little heavier.

It bothers many players,

but I don't mind.

I can say with my hand on my heart -

that I haven't heard about

any player who has doped -

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