hannes_ko
Registered User
Teemu Selänne, Olli Jokinen and Jere Lehtinen have all scored more than 30 goals this season. That makes it fairly good season for Finns. That had me checking if there was a season in the 1980's when 5 Finns scored more than 30 goals. There wasn't.
Petri Skriko scored 38, 33, 30 and 30 goal seasons in 80's. Ilkka Sinisalo scored 36 and 38. Esa Tikkanen had 34, 31 and 30. Mikko Mäkelä, one fo the most talented Finnish players had only one great season when he scored 36. And of course Jari Kurri used to score a plenty. But they did not score 30 goals in same season.
Sami Kapanen never had 30 goals, and I bet he won't score that much. Christian Ruuttu scored 26, but did not hit 30 goal mark. Defenceman Reijo Ruotsalainen once had 28 goals with Rangers, but he used to play wing that year too. That really makes Skriko's, Sinisalo's and Mäkelä's efforts more amazing. Hockey boom in Finland really started later, but we have not matched those great seasons of 80's still. We had great forwards, wonderful d-men (Siltanen, Ruotsalainen, Levo, Rautakallio) but no goalies.
In 1980's there was not that much NHL coverage in Finland so generally people don't understand how good Skriko, Sinisalo and Mäkelä were. There are more stories about Kurri, Tikkanen and Ruotsalainen, because they won Stanley Cups, and back in the day that was only thing about NHL Finnish journalists understood.
Do you guys have any memories of these three players? Of course I'd love to hear what did you think about Tapio Levo, Pekka Rautakallio, Hannu Virta and Timo Blomqvist etc., but let's start with these players.
Petri Skriko scored 38, 33, 30 and 30 goal seasons in 80's. Ilkka Sinisalo scored 36 and 38. Esa Tikkanen had 34, 31 and 30. Mikko Mäkelä, one fo the most talented Finnish players had only one great season when he scored 36. And of course Jari Kurri used to score a plenty. But they did not score 30 goals in same season.
Sami Kapanen never had 30 goals, and I bet he won't score that much. Christian Ruuttu scored 26, but did not hit 30 goal mark. Defenceman Reijo Ruotsalainen once had 28 goals with Rangers, but he used to play wing that year too. That really makes Skriko's, Sinisalo's and Mäkelä's efforts more amazing. Hockey boom in Finland really started later, but we have not matched those great seasons of 80's still. We had great forwards, wonderful d-men (Siltanen, Ruotsalainen, Levo, Rautakallio) but no goalies.
In 1980's there was not that much NHL coverage in Finland so generally people don't understand how good Skriko, Sinisalo and Mäkelä were. There are more stories about Kurri, Tikkanen and Ruotsalainen, because they won Stanley Cups, and back in the day that was only thing about NHL Finnish journalists understood.
Do you guys have any memories of these three players? Of course I'd love to hear what did you think about Tapio Levo, Pekka Rautakallio, Hannu Virta and Timo Blomqvist etc., but let's start with these players.