Ok,
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Last weekend was a frustrating one for my inner child. I got stripped off my cotton candy by circumstantial pains in the buttocks, as one might put it.
I was supposed to attend the Ilves-SaiPa matchup with a friend of mine that lives in Lahti, but is originally from Lapperanta. He is very good company for these sorts of events, a man that has lived through tough times with his partisanship and to whom the future doesn’t hold much more promises in that sense, and you have to admire the devotion.
But my friend’s daughter fell ill, despite being kilometres away from Nokia’s feces infested poisonous water, maybe by solidarity with the poor children of our suburb, who knows? So I did not have a good enough reason to not accompany my better fraction and our two rowdy Finnbécois kiddos to Pelican town. It seemed to be a good game. I’ll have to wait to witness first hand the wimped up version of Pauli Levokari, only 71 minutes in the pen in 21 games, come on!, the guy must have a new girlfriend.
There was still hope to make it at Isku Areena though, to witness the Pelicans-Jokerit extravaganza, and I chose my word there. A chartered train had apparently been filled with 1000 rowdy Jokerit fans (who are these people?), chanting and dousing their throats with heavy liquid along the new fast train tracks that just recently elevated Lahti to a status nearing that of a Helsinki suburb (if suburb is a status to be “elevated” at, but then again, this is Lahti we are talking about, there is not many places to look but up). But my ride got to town after the first period was over, when the issue of the game was already pretty much sealed (3-1 the score), and unbeknown to yours truly, was about to get pretty historical.
Here’s the highlights from the match. Utter dominance by the local boys that got the visiting supporters rowdy in a way a Sheffield Wednesday fan would not spit on. Firecrackers, smokbombs and flares galore, with injuries to boot. And my frustrated self meanwhile was drinking alone in my in-laws’ living room all unharmed and bored.
By the way, on the subject of all the respect Doug Shedden seems to get around here, I lately stumbled upon this little video from the 2000-01 season. It narrates in reality Shock Puckumentary (?!) fashion, the season of Saskatchewan enforcer Curtis Voth and the reality of the Tulsa ice hockey aficionados. At the beginning of the second part, you get a fine bit of an interview of the Memphis Riverkings’ coach and I don’t know what you opinion might be, but that doesn’t seem like National Team leading material to me. His last championship win was in Memphis by the way, might remain that way for a long time.
Lahti keeps up the good game (even if they fell short the next day against Timo Vertala and the Tappara Squadron) and I’ll have to witness that first hand sooner than later. And so should you!
