Saturday, May 12, 2007

where the hell is arto tukio ??

when i first started playing NHL07, i always chose to play the flames --i liked the way you knew where your guys were gonna be (ie: streaking up the wing), so you could pass blindly. but chris simon and darren mccarty were too slow and annoying so i tried out some other teams. vancouver was alright, mostly cause matt cooke had some good moves, but i found that the frolunda indians of the swedish elite league were the most fun; my boy henrik lundqvist backed a group of really active finns like koivisto, esbjörs, kallio, niemi and (of course) arto tukio with his killer pokecheck.

sure, you can't base your opinions on how good a country's players are on how engaging they can be in a video game, but i'll tell you what --they don't call 'em "pesky finns" for nothing. they are, historically, a nation of skill players (jari kurri, teemu selanne) but have a current wealth of young goaltenders (kiprusoff, lehtonen, toivonen, norrenna, noronen, niittymaki, toskala, markkanen, rask). overall, however, i'd say that the finns are known for their uncanny ability to agitate the opposition; most notable in this capacity are jarkko ruutu and ville niemenen, who have enough skill, speed, and size to get around most defensemen, and to get under anyone's skin. that, and the fact that they can put more vowels in a name than any other nation (read: niinimaa).

the team that finland will ice v. canada in the world hockey championship finals are a talented squad, with a nice mix of NHLers and players from the scandy leagues. in the end,i think the four working canadian forward lines will be too much for guys like aki berg, but if it goes to shootout, watchout for my boy petteri nummelin.... this looks to be a solid match. i just wish tukio was playing...
;)

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