May 23* - EXCLUSIVE: CBJ GM Jarmo Kekäläinen Interview; Stanley Cup’s London Birthplace; Worlds Begin With Shockers
It's a Great Day for Hockey ... From Oulu to Ottawa
STORIES:
Kekäläinen Covers the Gamut (video interview)
Slap Shots
The Time the Stanley Cup Went Home
Worlds Tidbits That Make You Go “Huh?”
This is Us
FEATURES:
Top European Playoff Scorers
Group A Scoreboard
Group B Scoreboard
“Name the Logo”
The Sunday Quiz
A Coffee with Kekäläinen (Video)
Jarmo Kekäläinen became the General Manager of the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2013, and the first European NHL GM in League history. This week he was given a big vote of confidence in the form of a two-year contract extension on top of his remaining two-years; while also welcoming team president and friend John Davidson back to Columbusfollowing his sudden departure from the New York Rangers the week before.
It has already been a busy off-season for the veteran hockey executive as his Blue Jackets are looking for a new coach, prepping for the amateur draft, evaluating the expansion (Seattle) draft, and looking at free agency. Kekäläinen also happens to be the assistant general manager of Finland’s Olympic team. He took timeout to sit down with us on Saturday morning.
He goes way back with all three Hockey Wanderlüsters, especially Risto, who played with Jarmo when they were teenagers in Finland. Let the fun begin …
Slap Shots:
Host Latvia pulled off a shocker, something the country’s hockey team had never done before - it beat Canada in a World Championship game, and it did it in style. Goaltender Matiss Kivlenieks recorded a shutout, while Oskars Batna and Miks Indrasis scored for Latvia.
Denmark also made history by beating neighboring Sweden in the Worlds for the first time. The Danes recorded their first-ever win over Sweden a few weeks ago in an exhibition game in Malmö, Sweden, so the upset wasn’t as big a shocker as one might think. Denmark’s hero was Nicklas Jensen who tallied a hat-trick and picked up an assist en route to a 4-3 victory.
The Time the Stanley Cup Went Back Home
By Risto
Now that the 2021 quest for the Stanley Cup has begun all across North America, let’s rewind the tape and remember that the original story of the Cup began on the other side of the Atlantic.
Where exactly?
Well, at 130 Regent Street, London, England.
"Lord Stanley bought the Cup in a tiny shop at 130 Regent Street for 10 guineas (approximately $75). The GH Collis trophy shop, is gone, but the building, Kerrington House, is there,” says Erik Janssen, a Canadian-born broadcaster and producer based in London.
In June 2000, Janssen was up in the middle of the night watching the Stanley Cup Final between the Dallas Stars and the New Jersey Devils and saw the familiar shots of Phil Pritchard and Craig Campbell polishing the Stanley Cup, ready to carry it out onto the ice. That’s when a lightbulb went off in his Janssen’s head.
"I just stopped to think that Lord Stanley actually bought the Cup here in England. My question was, ‘Where the heck did he buy the Cup?’’” Janssen says.
The Hockey Hall of Fame gave him the Regent Street address which happened to be right around the corner from Janssen’s office.
Another lightbulb moment. Shouldn’t there be one of those green plaques that you see on London buildings commemorating “the diverse cultural heritage of [the City of] Westminster and the people who have lived or worked [t]here”?
Janssen thought so.
He put together a pitch for a plaque to commemorate, if not the birthplace of the Stanley Cup, then at least the trophy’s London silversmith origins. He submitted a proposal to the House of Lords and contacted the city of Westminster. Under his arm he had several books about the Stanley Cup, a biography of Lord Stanley and testimonials from people about the Stanley Cup’s significance to Canada and the rest of the hockey world.
And then, just short of six years after Scott Stevens had hoisted the Cup as the captain of the 2000 championship team, a green plaque was unveiled on the side of a Regent Street building by Sir John Stuttard, the Lord Mayor of London, while Janssen and Lord Stanley's great-great-grandson Lord Edward Derby stood by, beaming with pride.
One of the Keepers of the Cup, Mike Bolt, turned to Janssen and shook his hand.
“This is the coolest thing we’ve ever done with the Cup,” he said.
“And they’ve been everywhere,” Janssen says. “That still gives me goosebumps.”
The plaque says: "Lord Stanley of Preston purchased the original Stanley Cup from a silversmith at this site in 1892 for the people of Canada to commemorate amateur and professional hockey. The Cup is now in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto."
And then the Cup got a taste of local culture. Janssen and Pritchard took the trophy to 10 Downing Street, the Houses of Parliament, gave it a ride in a black London cab and on a cruise ship on the Thames River. Then, naturally, it visited the only Canadian pub in England, the Maple Leaf Pub at the Covent Garden.
Worlds Tidbits That Make You Go “Huh?”
By Risto
With the Worlds still in the early stages, let’s have a look at the 16 teams competing. Here are some tidbits for you to remember as you tune in to watch the games.
Team Canada is the youngest team in the tournament, with an average age of 24. The oldest team? The host team, Latvia, 28.9.
The youngest player is Italy’s 16-year-old third goalie Damian Clara - born on Jan 13, 2005. The oldest one is Clara’s teammate, forward Marco Rosa, born on Jan 15, 1982, which makes him 39.
Boris Mikhailov can rest assured that his number one spot on the all-time scoring list won’t be threatened this year. Nor will Valeri Kharlamov’s position at number two or Alexander Maltsev’s at three. In fact, we probably won’t see any significant changes in the Top 20, although Norway’s Mathis Olimb - currently #32 – only needs ten points to reach Jaromit Jágr at 20. However, Olimb has averaged around five points in his last five tournaments so he needs to get hot. Then again, he’s off to a good start, as he picked up an assist in Norway’s first game, a 5-1 loss to Germany .
Team Finland’s Petri Kontiola (currently #125) may push Henrik Zetterberg out of the World Championships’ all-time Top 100 in scoring. The veteran center needs just five points to do so.
Switzerland has played just one game as of this writing … but their powerplay percentage, 57.14, is notable. Sweden, who lost to Denmark, didn’t have any powerplay opportunities in the game.
And speaking of opportunities … Italy had only 14 shots on goal in their game against Germany, but they did manage to find the net four times in the 9-4 loss.
The tallest player in the tournament in Belarus’s defenseman Stepan Falkovski, 205cm. The title for the shortest player in the tournament is a tie between Jakub Flek (CZE) and Ben Davies (GBR), 172cm.
Who Be We?
Getting to know the founders of Hockey Wanderlüst.
Rob Simpson, “Simmer” for three years, between doing baseball and hockey, did World Team Tennis play-by-play on television for the Idaho Sneakers, a team that featured 18-year-old Andy Roddick for one season.
Ken Yaffe, “Yaf”, while managing director of NHL International in 2007 organized regular season games in London with freshly minted Stanley Cup Champion the Anaheim Ducks who played a pair versus the LA Kings at the O2 Arena. This was yet another opportunity to “bring the cup home” (see Puckarinen story above). Yaffe produced more than 100 NHL international events during his 19-year tenure at the League.
When Risto “Puckarinen” Pakarinen worked at Tackla Canada in Orillia, ON in 1990, he was surprised to find out that one of his colleagues was his childhood idol Frank Neal, the first non-Finn to make the Finnish league All-Star Team, and whose famously big-knobbed stick Puckarinen had proudly on display in his home back in Finland.
Features:
1. Top European Playoff Scorers:
Who’s off to a hot start?
🇷🇺 Nikita Kucherov (TB) 3 goals and 6 assists in 4 games played.
🇸🇪 Victor Hedman (TB) Has 7 assists and averaged 24 minutes of ice time in 4 games.
🇸🇪 Gabriel Landeskog (COL) A goal, five assists in three games. Plus-5.
🇫🇮 Sebastian Aho (CAR) Has 3 goals and 5 points in 3 games played.
🇫🇮 Mikko Rantanen (COL) 5 points, all assists, plus-4 in 3 games played.
2. Group A at Worlds
3. Group B at Worlds
4. “Name the Logo” Answer
With all due respect, despite being a scary animal, this shark emblem was one of the blandest and least appealing in history, as if drawn by a grade-6 student. The LA Sharks played in the World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1972 to 1974 and folded with the resurgence of the NHL’s Kings across town, a team that made the Stanley Cup playoffs in 1973-’74. Kings attendance went up, Sharks attendance went down, and the team moved to Detroit to become the Michigan Stags, which (in case you are keeping score) was the very first “Name the Logo” contest emblem in Hockey Wanderlüst back in early March.
5. The Sunday Quiz
Wayne Gretzky, The Great One, played 202 playoff games in his career and scored 382 points, but how many times did he get left off the scoresheet altogether?
See you on Thursday.
Enjoy the hockey action!