A couple of Finnish guys have this series where they go visit fellow Finns all around the NHL, and they just released an episode where they were in Calgary. Features Ortio, Jokipakka, and Bäckström.
Good luck understanding anything, but maybe one of our Finnish posters will give us some of the highlights?
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Quick and dirty translation. First the locker room part.
- Random Calgary Facts
- Matti Nykänen with 3 golds from the Calgary olympics
- Jonas Hiller looks like Luke Skywalker
- Those kids are probably skipping school to go watch the Flames practice, "that's awesome"
Ortio:
q: "In the summer you said you were playing too well, have to slow down a bit. You got that part right, looking at the standings."
a: "Yeah I did say that, I guess I overdid it"
q: "Are there a lot of Kipper legends going around still? I heard he was quite the personality"
a: "There's still some of that, especially some of the staff guys, they were here during Kippers era. One of them still calls Kipper pretty regurarly. So yeah, those legends, I think they'll never die around here."
q: "Pekka Rinne has a golf glove under his hockey glove, do you have some special gear like that?"
a: "Not really, I don't like extra stuff like that. When you have soft hands already... Don't really have that. Nikke (Bäckström) also uses a golf glove."
Bäckström
q: "Dude has had change of scenery after about a decade in Minnesota. So what's it like to be in Calgary?"
a: "I've only been here about 10 days, but feeling nice so far. You always try to prepare for the possibility of getting traded, but when it happens it's still a kind of a shock. With such a long tenure in Minnesota, lots of friends on the team and outside the team there, it was mentally even surprisingly tough. But when I got here, getting into the locker room and training with the guys, after a couple of days it's been starting to feel better every day. Having a change of scenery is nice too. It was starting to be clear that a lot needed to happen (in Minnesota) for me get starts, and you never want bad things for your team mates, you want them to stay healthy. Would have been a long way to get a chance there. I had a NTC so I could have blocked the trade so I made it a condition that I get to play. We'll see what the future brings."
Ortio:
q: "How much do you bench press"
a: "My weight. We'll leave it as a mystery how much that is, you can take a guess."
q: "Comments on Johnny Hockey."
a: (Deadpan humour) "Well much of the credit obviously goes to me, been giving him tips on where to shoot. So yeah, absolutely I deserve some of the credit."
q: "Modesty seems to be in your blood."
Jokipakka:
q: "You got traded from the warmth of Texas here to Canada, how are you feeling?"
a: "No problems, I've been getting along well. I did think I wouldn't have to listen to that country music anymore, but hell, they play it here too damn it."
Last edited by Itse; 04-23-2016 at 06:39 AM.
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(Note: they're speaking in a very casual style and I'm just doing this very quickly. It's a very rough translation, don't try to read between the lines because I can't translate the tones.)
q: We found you here at the International hotel, is this a familiar place?
Ortio: "A little too familiar. Throughout all these years, I've altogether spent probably a year of my life in this cabin. I can tell you that it starts to get to you at some point."
q: Jyrki, be honest now. What did it feel like when you heard that you got traded from a championship contender to a team that doesn't have a chance anymore?
JJ: "Let's say that it wasn't the greatest feeling to begin with. I'm sure a few swear words were thrown. But it feels good again now. It's fine."
q: What was the situation like? Was it the classic phone call, or did you meet the boss at the office? What was the situation like?
JJ: "I was checking out Twitter and my name popped up, and got a call from the GM right after. And that was that."
To Ortio: You're know as quite the imitator, have you learned to do the current coach yet?" (NOTE: This video of Ortio imitating his coach Hannu Jortikka back in his U20 days went viral in Finland. It's quite funny if you understand Finnish and know Jortikka.)
Ortio: "I could probably do something if need be, but let's leave it up my sleeve for the time being. Let it simmer a bit still."
(Questions about which reporters summer camp team would they take part in.)
To Jokipakka:
"I heard in Dallas that your nickname is Kevin, can you shed some light on that?"
"I was getting coffee from Starbucks, but my own name is just too difficult for them. Kevin is easy to say and they understand that. Then the waiter calls out for "Kevin" and a couple of teammates where standing by and went WTF and that's where it got started."
q: (to Ortio) you don't have a yankee-name?
"I'm just John. If you try to tell them Joni..."
(They play Epic Speed a little. Apparently part of the series, you can see other scores. Ortio wipes the floor with Kevin.)
q: Makke (Markus Granlund) was here and I heard you got along pretty well, that you even kind of looked after him.
Ortio: "You can almost use the term adopted child. (Said with a humorous tone.) Makke came here a bit green behind the ears, it was actually kind of nice to take him under my wing so to speak. In Abbotsford I helped him get a place, and where's the grocery store, and we bought a car for him, my wife cooked for him. We took good care of the kid."
q: Did you do the laundry too?
Ortio: "I didn't (throw his sh**ty underwear in the washer.) My wife might have."
q: During the game, do the opposing players get in you face (verbally)?
Ortio: "Very rarely anyone starts to actually, you know, f*** with you. Most of it is positive stuff. We played Pittsburgh exactly a week ago, Hornqvist gave me positives all through the game. After a good catch he came to pat the pads a bit and say "good catch".
q: Do you think that's kind of psyching? Like you're still thinking about it a week later..."
Ortio: "Well we won that 4-2"
q: So it didn't work.
q: Do you Jykä (Jokipakka) talk to the opposing goalie?
JJ: "It's kind of a long way for me, I don't go shouting from the blueline"
Ortio: "He just shouts at me"
JJ: "Hold that!" (Referring to holding the puck I assume.)
Ortio, what's the longest time you've spent at the rink after the game?
Ortio: "Over an hour. And it's not like I've been doing anything reasonable. Sauna is pretty good, steam sauna does you good after the game."
q: In Turku I heard that you were leaving the rink like when the lights were starting to go out?
Ortio: "That's about right. It was bad 'cause they had a sauna in Turku too, I tend to kind of get stuck there."
q: We have to throw a sauna-competition next summer.
Ortio: "Let's hope it doesn't go like with Timo" "Or the Russian" (Referring to this.)
q: (Laughing) A bit of dark humour, you don't wish that on anyone.
Last edited by Itse; 04-23-2016 at 07:18 AM.
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Also on the first episode they talked with Olli Jokinen and he had a fast story about Kipper.
They had a halloween party with the team and Kipper couldn't attend it, he had some obstacles and next day in the locker room Iggy and few other guys were a bit angry because Kipper couldn't attend when the entire team is having a party and demanded that he needs to get fined, Kipper responded: "I was there, I was the invisible man."
Also Olli said: " I can probably tell you this story because I know Kipper won't be watching this, he probably doesn't even have internet in his phone."
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Also on the first episode they talked with Olli Jokinen and he had a fast story about Kipper.
They had a halloween party with the team and Kipper couldn't attend it, he had some obstacles and next day in the locker room Iggy and few other guys were a bit angry because Kipper couldn't attend when the entire team is having a party and demanded that he needs to get fined, Kipper responded: "I was there, I was the invisible man."
Also Olli said: " I can probably tell you this story because I know Kipper won't be watching this, he probably doesn't even have internet in his phone."
To elaborate further on the story:
Kipper claimed that he had been there, explaining that "yeah you were wearing this and he was wearing that, yeah I saw it all", when in reality he had found out all that from OJ.
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New episode out with Rämö and a bit of Jyrki! Seems to include a story about Kipper and Toskala, more comments on Johnny Hockey, a tour around the Dome, and lots of talk about pizza.
Kiprusoff doesn't get nearly the recognition he deserves for the quality of his play while with the Flames. I imagine it would be very different if they reviewed the Gelinas play in 2004.
Also on the first episode they talked with Olli Jokinen and he had a fast story about Kipper.
They had a halloween party with the team and Kipper couldn't attend it, he had some obstacles and next day in the locker room Iggy and few other guys were a bit angry because Kipper couldn't attend when the entire team is having a party and demanded that he needs to get fined, Kipper responded: "I was there, I was the invisible man."
Also Olli said: " I can probably tell you this story because I know Kipper won't be watching this, he probably doesn't even have internet in his phone."
Kiprusoff doesn't get nearly the recognition he deserves for the quality of his play while with the Flames. I imagine it would be very different if they reviewed the Gelinas play in 2004.
credit from who? Are there Flames fans who don't realize he's probably the best goalie this franchise will ever have?
Lol about Jokipakka thinking getting traded from Texas to Alberta would get him away from country music. Clearly didn't know anything about the market he was being sent to..
Jokipakka:
a: "No problems, I've been getting along well. I did think I wouldn't have to listen to that country music anymore, but hell, they play it here too damn it."
New episode out with Rämö and a bit of Jyrki! Seems to include a story about Kipper and Toskala, more comments on Johnny Hockey, a tour around the Dome, and lots of talk about pizza.
It will probably take me a couple of days before I have time to sit down to translate that, but unless someone beats me to it I'll do it.
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Reporter (Q)
"We found Karri Rämö and Karri will show us around the Flames domain a bit."
Rämö (R)
"So, here we have the rooms for maintenance staff. They're all shiny and new since they had that flood. The water was up to the ceiling here."
(Short recap of the flood.)
Karri:
"Yeah, everything needed to be replaced."
Q: "Lots of people have mentioned that, hotels and such were under water..."
R: "Yeah all the stuff, every sharpening machine and everything, brand new. It was a big operation. A lot of history got lost too, signed sticks and what have you. They're all somewhere there... wherever the river goes from here."
Q: "That's bad."
Q: "They only had a few months before the season, but they got everything ready."
R: "Here we have... When I came here a couple of years back I had some hip issues and so on, we needed to get this anti-gravity treadmill. No-one else has used it. I doubt anyone else even knows how to use it. You can theoretically get all the weight off..."
Q: "A bit like water running"
R: "Yeah a bit like water running"
Q: "That's fancier than being in a pool."
R: "When I had this knee-surgery, we went through all the planets with my trainer with this thing. Walking on the moon first, then in Mars and then through every other planet. We're already using weights now.
R: "It's a damned heavy piece of equipment, and the set it up the wrong way, since you can't watch the TV while you're at it. That's probably why no one uses it."
"There's the hot pool and the cold pool. No jacuzzi here."
Q: "I heard rumours that you have a sauna here."
R: "Steam sauna."
Q: "A sauna is a sauna."
Walking by the mirrors:
Q: "Now I'm claiming that this is a spot where Ortio spends quite a bit of time before leaving the rink. Am I right?"
R: "Yeah."
Q: "Yeah we waited quite a bit for him after the last game."
R: "We get warm breakfast here, porridge and so on, some snacks. On training days there's also lunch here."
R: "Here's the lounge, where you change your gear. They've let me kept my spot for now."
Q: "Joonas Donskoi messed you up. Intentionally. (note: joke) And your season is over. What kind of message would you like us to take to Joonas when we see him?"
R: "Nothing, we'll see again next year and let's see what happens then" (laughing)
R: "From there you get to the ice, guys bang their sticks before the game and so on..."
(looking at the ice and seats)
R: "When the flood happened, I think it was something like 13th or 14th row where the waterline was. Our physiogroup has mostly changed, but one of the physios was one of the last people to leave the area before they closed all the bridges, and they just told him that 'the water will rise so get everything up on the tables, 'cause the waters will rise that much'. So he lifted all the computers and stuff on the tables. And then the water was up to the ceiling. They lost everything, x-ray machines and so on. Probably someone has found them downriver. Or maybe they just went straight to the landfill from here."
Q: "How's Calgary as a place? Have you liked it?"
R: "Well, there's been some issues with the cowboy-life. It's just drilling oil and riding horses. Wearing cowboy hats. Everybody comparing pickup trucks, who has the biggest and shiniest. There's no room for anything else on the parking lots. If you have a European car and something breaks it's just gone. You can't fix it here...
...who has the coolest boots and the biggest belt buckle wins. But it's a nice place."
(The part with the speed game.)
(Reporter looking at picture of Lanny)
Q: "Those are some powerful brushes."
R: "He still has those. Probably hasn't shaven them once."
Q: "Wait a minute, who the hell is that..."
R: "Lanny McDonald"
Q: "Right! It says so right there. Of course I have to edit out the part where I didn't know him. Jersey on the ceiling and everything."
Q: "Was it so that you came here right after Kipper retired?"
R: "Yup."
Q: "Apparently you can still here Kipper-stories here?"
R: (laughing) "Less so now, but for the first two years you heard something new every day. And for the first year he was still around, although I didn't see him much."
Q: "I've heard he was a much liked but a very unusual persona."
R: "Yeah, the fans missed him quite a bit for the first years."
Q: "They really trust Finnish goaltending here."
R: "Yeah I don't think there's any other organization with so many Finns. Toskala was here for also, same time as Kipper."
R: "When Kipper and Toskala started at San Jose, they (?) thought that it was a great idea to have them both playing in the AHL. I don't think it took them (?) many weeks to realize it wasn't the greatest idea. But they did okay eventually."
Q: "Here's a question from Twitter. Classic move, when you run out of things to say you just ask on Twitter if anyone has any questions. Someone tends to have, let me just scroll here. My friend Ville from Jyväskylä who is also a goalie wanted to know the specs for Karri's glove."
R: "I haven't the slightest idea. It's some old Vaughn that I've had for ages. One of the first ones. I've had some other gloves but I've always gone back to the same one. It's like a pesis-glove. (Note: pesis or pesäpallo being a baseball like game we have in Finland. Pesis-glove is more like a hockey glove than a baseball glove.)
Q: "Jaakko asks which is easier to catch: Ovetchkins wrister or Webers slapshot?"
R: "Webers slapshot, he usually has to shoot a bit further back. Better chance of catching it."
Q: "Jonne Virtanen from TPS asks what do you miss?"
R: (laughing) "Mobility in the knee."
Q: "Julius asks if you have any idea what Johnny Hockey eats for breakfast, he wants to have the same."
R: "My guess is chocolate bars. I don't know, haven't seen it, but that's my guess. "
Q: "Based on that Johnny Hockey isn't exactly a health nut?"
R: "Not exactly no. Doesn't eat anything green."
Q: "Guy puts up a nice stack of points regardless."
R: "I guess it doesn't matter, even if you just ate chocolate."
Q: "So here's a lesson for all you fitness people, it's all the same what you eat, if you're a ninja you're a ninja."
Q: "Since this is your first time on this show I'm going to ask you this two-part question. Your favourite pizza and your favourite band?"
R: "Favourite pizza is... ham-pineapple. Favourite band is a tougher one. Right now I think Pink Floyd."
(in the car)
Q: "What's this car? Have you liked it?"
R: "Leasing car. Audi is good."
Q: "What model?"
R: "Q7 (not sure, I think that's what he says) It's the same as the first car I ever bought here. (I guess he means in NA.)
Q: "Can you walk around in peace, or do people constantly come talk to you?"
R: "People sometimes come up, but rarely. It's a big village."
Q: "Do you ever listen to Aerosmith?"
R: "Yeah, why?"
Q: "Was just on the playlist it seemed."
Q: "Do you have routines for game days?"
R: "Yeah, but nothing really compulsory."
Q: "This might be a bit of weird question, but what's your relationship with God?"
R: "It's okay."
Q: "Do you talk to him a lot?"
R: "Not that often."
Q: "I was just thinking since you have a bit of the same look than his son. You're not related are you?"
R: "No, we're not related"
(Watching the game at Scotiabank Saddledome. I'm too lazy to translate that part. Crappy game, bad ice. Difficulty to find Pizza. Loss to Coyotes 1-4.)
Talking to Kevin (JJ):
Q: "So here in the post-game sweat-interview, Jyrki, you didn't deliver the hat-trick you promised?"
JJ: "I don't think it was very close..."
Q: "By a quick count you were three goals short. But we have to ask, is the ice as bad as it looks?"
JJ: "By the end of the period the puck bounces quite a lot. Not the greatest ice I have to say."
Q: "So here's a real hockey question: what was the game like tonight?"
JJ: "Really sluggish, neither side really had anything. They scored the winning goal while I was sitting in the penalty box."
Q: "We noticed. Happens in hockey."
JJ: "That's hockey for you sometimes."
Q: "So how about some lemonade?"
JJ: "Why not".
Q: "So, Jyrki will lead us into the Calgary night for some lemonades. This was the best sweat-interview ever. Sweat-interview, I'm going to start using that."
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"Q: "This might be a bit of weird question, but what's your relationship with God?"
R: "It's okay."
Q: "Do you talk to him a lot?"
R: "Not that often."
Q: "I was just thinking since you have a bit of the same look than his son. You're not related are you?"
R: "No, we're not related"
"Q: "This might be a bit of weird question, but what's your relationship with God?"
R: "It's okay."
Q: "Do you talk to him a lot?"
R: "Not that often."
Q: "I was just thinking since you have a bit of the same look than his son. You're not related are you?"
R: "No, we're not related"
^^^^Oh my goodness, awesome.
Yeah I quite like the series. The guys who make the show seem to know many of the players quite well and the players personalities come through nicely.
I'm sure it's also just easier for the players to show their funny side in their native language.