Ilkka Sinisalo Passes Away At Age 58

[BillDineen]

Sad news. Too young. He was one of my favorite players as a kid.

 

[Irwin]

Here in Finland news of his passing have been in the three biggest newspapers, national TV-channel YLE had it in it's sports section, old teammates from Finland have been remembering him.

Reading the information hearing the stories from old teammates, consensus is, that Sinisalo enjoyed of not being in the fanfare and limelight. Great guy, two way-player and an outstanding father & husband.

He was a free agent signing in 1981. Finnish players could be counted with one hand that time, so it would be interesting to know, who was the Flyers mastermind behind the signing.

 

[ChicagoBullsFan]

If possible would be great if Flyers could pay the tribute for the memory of Ilkka Sinisalo in their last home game.
Ilkka was one of those Finnish players with Matti Hagman, Risto Siltanen, Pekka Rautakallio and Jari Kurri who paved the way for all Finnish players in NHL today .

RIP Ilkka.

 

[Captain Dave Poulin]

If possible would be great if Flyers could pay the tribute for the memory of Ilkka Sinisalo in their last home game.
Ilkka was one of those Finnish players with Matti Hagman, Risto Siltanen, Pekka Rautakallio and Jari Kurri who paved the way for all Finnish players in NHL today .

RIP Ilkka.

That would be really tremendous. Everyone who watched him just loved him to pieces and he deserves a special night.

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Here in Finland news of his passing have been in the three biggest newspapers, national TV-channel YLE had it in it's sports section, old teammates from Finland have been remembering him.

Reading the information hearing the stories from old teammates, consensus is, that Sinisalo enjoyed of not being in the fanfare and limelight. Great guy, two way-player and an outstanding father & husband.

He was a free agent signing in 1981. Finnish players could be counted with one hand that time, so it would be interesting to know, who was the Flyers mastermind behind the signing.

An early scout for the Flyers named Eric Colville who also recommended the free agent signing of Tim Kerr, perhaps the Flyers best free agent (non-drafted player) signing. He also recommended the Flyers draft a Soviet (mid 1970s) player named Viktor Kkatulev and they did, becoming the first NHL team to draft a Soviet.

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

If possible would be great if Flyers could pay the tribute for the memory of Ilkka Sinisalo in their last home game.
Ilkka was one of those Finnish players with Matti Hagman, Risto Siltanen, Pekka Rautakallio and Jari Kurri who paved the way for all Finnish players in NHL today .

RIP Ilkka.

The Flyers organization has a splendid history of remembering players and their families. They were the first NHL team to have a wives' charity to support various causes including cancer research. The team is historically gifted and oozes grace through such organizational ceremonies. I am positive something will be done even independent of ceremony or rememberence for the player and his family. That is a byproduct of Ed Snider's memory.

 

[Embiid]

While I'm reminiscing, does anyone remember when we first got Kjell Samuelsson off the Rangers? So tall and gangly he looked like he could not move on the ice but became a great player. Think of him when looking at how well Morin moves at that height! And be thankful Kjell is there to teach Big Sammy 2.0.

Yeah I remember it like it was yesterday. I also remember me and my friends making fun of him with his Jofa helmet and do recall him looking rather awkward on the ice and also being turnover prone at the outset. I had a table hockey game and one of the D players didn't function properly so whoever got that team had to play with a handicap....we named and numbered that player Kjell. Also remember when Gene Hart would always say Kjell was like seaweed and then with Emrick he would always refer to him as Big Kjell Samuelsson during play by play. Kjell became a solid defender for the Flyers and obviously a key player in the Pitt Cup win along with Tocchet which was bitter sweet.

On another note...that video that MSE posted reminds me of Marsh and his play with the Flyers. Great person and overall solid defender but was prone to turnovers since he was a plodding D man out there. The video has some of those gaffes. Never looked graceful but worked his butt off and had the most amazing feet when it came to blocking and kicking pucks. I was at the Boston game when Marsh got tag teamed by two Boston players (Neely I think was one) and he hit his head and got that concussion. He tried to wear a helmet afterwards and it just wasn't him.

I liked Crossman as well...took a lot of heat. Overall, the Flyers D unit was a solid bunch but Howe and McCrimmon were the anchors. Such an amazing pairing and Clarke who admitted he screwed up let McCrimmon walk over a petty contract dispute. Clarke has always admitted he hated the contract negotiation part of being a GM. It was one of the things that annoyed me about him as a GM because he let emotion dictate over sound and pragmatic business decisions.

 

[ChicagoBullsFan]

That would be really tremendous. Everyone who watched him just loved him to pieces and he deserves a special night.

I don't remember Ilkka Sinisalo as a NHLer because i was little kid ( i'm born 1984) when Sinisalo and Flyers played in stanley cup finals against Edmonton 1985 and 1987.

But still Ilkka's death of age 58 was unexpected he was 4yrs younger than my father who's 62 at the moment.
However Flyers has lost great person who was their long-time scout and alumni player so he deserves a tribute ceremony .

 

[Pantokrator]

The goal I mentioned earlier is found in the wonders of YouTube at 2:57. On video, the excitement is perhaps subdued, but the reaction watching that live was immense.

https://youtu.be/uYmOEDOeN84?t=177

Haha! Tim Tookey! I remember he had like the shortest stick in the league.

 

[Pantokrator]

I don't remember Ilkka Sinisalo as a NHLer because i was little kid ( i'm born 1984) when Sinisalo and Flyers played in stanley cup finals against Edmonton 1985 and 1987.

But still Ilkka's death of age 58 was unexpected he was 4yrs younger than my father who's 62 at the moment.
However Flyers has lost great person who was their long-time scout and alumni player so he deserves a tribute ceremony .

Ilkka was my favorite Flyer - the first jersey I got and the first one I got signed.

Does anyone know what he died from? It seems shocking to die at 58.

 

[Embiid]

Ilkka was my favorite Flyer - the first jersey I got and the first one I got signed.

Does anyone know what he died from? It seems shocking to die at 58.

Sadly the "C" word......and in his case double C (Colon)

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Ilkka was my favorite Flyer - the first jersey I got and the first one I got signed.

Does anyone know what he died from? It seems shocking to die at 58.

It was reported on CSN Philly as prostate cancer, something he battled for three years.

 

[Laveuglette]

58 is much too young to die these days. Very sad. Great player. RIP.

 

[tade]

That's so terrible to hear, this ****ing disease, only 58... RIP.

 

[Embiid]

It was reported on CSN Philly as prostate cancer, something he battled for three years.

Thanks MSE..I noted the wrong cancer.

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Thanks MSE..I noted the wrong cancer.

You are welcome. Chuch Gormley, who covered the Flyers for years, confirmed the prostate cancer on his Twitter account with a link to an article; however, I had difficulty getting it to function.

 

[Jussi]

It was reported on CSN Philly as prostate cancer, something he battled for three years.

He seemed to have hidden it well. Finnish state broadcaster Yle's radio channel covered the Finnish league semifinal game between Sinisalo's former team in Finland HIFK and Tappara (moment of silence held before the game) and during the first intermission they talked to several former players and coaches who said they saw Ilkka "a while ago" and he seemed fine. One of the Yle guys said that when he and a commentator covered the Euro Hockey Tour event in Sweden in February, they saw Ilkka scouting there and he said hi to them and that he'd see them again at the U-18 WJC in April.