The Winning Ways

Many times I am asked about why I play hockey and I always, for some reason, struggle to answer the question coherently. I suppose there is no one word answer for it and we often go into length explaining why it is we do it. Recently I watched my wife play a game and it was her first ever win in ice hockey and it was at the moment of the final buzzer that I realized why we play this game.

Hockey is about goals and achievements. Achievements are what we cherish and find strength to carry on. Rather than analyse the deeper meaning of achievement again, I decided to remind my self of my best hockey achievements. These are the memories that help me strive forward and push on another day. These are the achievements that make me want to achieve more and to experience that feeling of winning and accomplishment.

1.)Pee-wee champions for the Hame region. Rewind back to 1992, it was my first ever hockey season and our team, the Parola Chicago Blackhawks was a team that no-one hade real expectations for. I enjoyed playing the game and as funny as it may sound, I asked to play as a defender to begin with, because I was afraid that I didn’t know how to score. However the coaches realised that I was a fast enough skater so they planted me as a winger. My first game I probably spent more time off-side than doing anything really useful for the team. What made the team exceptional was that we were all friends and we wanted to have fun playing. We went the whole season undefeated and the only time we didn’t win was when we drew 1-1 against a team called the Flyers. I can’t remember where they were based, but we got our re-match with them at the finals. We won the final and I can’t remember the final score, but I remember like it was being on top of the world and I wanted to celebrate the win like I’d seen the pros do it on TV, but I was a tad too young to empty a keg of beer and champagne bottles.

2.)Dutch Hans Bruck Bokaal. My first senior win and title. It was a long and arduous season, we found ourselves winning a team we’d played close games against before. On both occasions in the regular season we had lost and the overall feeling was that we were going to drop the final games as well. However something inside me changed when our team captain gestured the hoisting of the cup that I realised that we were actually going to win it. That realisation and the little bit of a buzz that I knew was the win was something I wanted to hold on to. It was something that I drew strength from during the finals and I didn’t want that feeling to escape and the season end with 25 guys holding their heads in their hands at the end. I can’t ever remember playing a tougher game in my life, but in the end all the hits that I took and all the dirty work I did at our own defensive zone paid off. I suppose this time I got my TV ending and celebrated like a pro on TV. Man was I ever sick and nursed the hangover of a life time, which carried on for a quite a while as we gathered our kit and drank Bacardi and Coke the day after. What makes it funnier is that I had my Chemistry final, which I royally bombed on the Monday after. I think it was a small price to pay.

3.)BUICH 2006 National Championships. Playing a series of 8 games on the hottest day of the year in a rink where there is hardly any air-conditioning. I can’t remember ever being as nervous as I was at the start of every game on that day. I wanted to win so bad as it was my goal at the start of the season and the last year of eligibility. The season before was a complete disappointment with the team crashing in the tournament. Sure I have fond memories of the losing trip, but still. The ending couldn’t have been better. We beat the ‘arch’ rivals Portsmouth in the final, which was easier than beating Sheffield whose roster included a lot of good talent. I’m not saying that Portsmouth was a terrible team, but Sheffield were a bit more talented, specially their own end. I remember scoring a goal and making a terrible giveaway which allowed Pompey to score, though I did redeem myself by setting up two goals. I think the reason we won the title was because of our coach who made sure we were all level headed and did things the right way. At the end of the day we walked away with the trophy and despite me hogging the trophy. I weighed myself the day after and I had lost 5kg of weight just through liquid. Though I didn’t celebrate by drinking alcohol as I was T-Total back in those days, it took me a week to recover from those games and the heat. Again a small sacrifice

Those are my three finest memories that I look back on. Though there are more occasions I get more motivation from the list would grow too long to list here. I am fully aware that there are probably more disappointments along the way to achieving these successes, but without sticking your nose into every possible situation, you cannot win. If you are not willing to lay it all down on the line you can’t expect to achieve and live these types of moments of glory.

So what does this have anything to do with my wife winning a game. It was seeing the joy on her face and her team mates, that I realised that these are the moments we play for and achieving that moment of jubilation is worth going through hell again and again. It does not matter whether it is a regular season win or a championship, but when you have been down on your luck even the smallest of wins can uplift you and turn your life around.

I can’t think of another way to end this blog than by quoting lines Bruce Springsteen’s song ‘The Wrestler’: These things have comforted me, My only faith’s the broken bones and bruises I display’ and of course, the memories and achievements that fulfil my playing life and my personal life.

Worth so much more

Looking at the picture I chose for the header of this blog, I feel an immense longing back to my childhood. I remember when the highlight of the day was to go play shinny with my friends on an out-door rink they used to freeze at the school. You would get everyone there, the pre-schoolers, high-school kids, adults, I mean everyone. Normally the rink would be full and people would take slapshots and what-not until someone plucked up the courage to put up a shinny. Everyone would line up and equal teams were picked, regardless of your ability, skills or age. Everyone got to play.

What was great about it was that you really got to meet people and have a good hearted competition. There was no trophies handed out in the end, no stats held of who scored the most goals or man of the match awards. It was all good clean fun, just as it was intended to be. When the weather was too cold and that 5km bike ride to the rink was a bit too much, you would put up a game of street hockey with the kids from the block. There were no goals, you would just build two piles of snow that would act as posts and off you went. Sure the cars that would drive past would ruin the game and the posts, but it was a minor nuisance.

I think one of my fondest memories is me playing on my own against my dad and my brother. It was a new-years eve and we had a best of seven series going. Needless to say I was outnumbered and outscored, whilst I was juggling to play outfield and goal at the same time. It was a great experience and it didn’t matter whether you won or not, it was all about taking part and having fun.

Now all those years have passed and I have a different take on the game. I am more serious about the way I look at it and prepare. It is all about winning now days, but I look back at those games and the cold nights spent falling in love with the game and I realise that it is that child’s innocence and enthusiasm every person has for the game, no matter what level and how much they are earning to play hockey. Maybe taking part is not the main priority anymore and the goals are set higher, but it is still that same passion that keeps me going. After years out of the game I am now, again, madly in love with the sport that has been such a big part of my life and has given me so much. If you really want to get to the semantics of it, I met my wife because of hockey and I’ve met some of my best friends through the sport.

Friendships and achievements go hand in hand. I will always cherish the memories of hockey/poker nights at people’s houses where we could be spectators once more and have a good laugh over a few beers. Maybe the most important thing that hockey has given me is not the trophies and medals I have on my bookshelf, but the memories and friends I have garnered through out the years. I wish one day, when I am old and wrinkly, I can sit in my rocking chair and look at the photographs I have from those days and reminisce these days of glory that I am now living through.

Sisu

I mentioned this word in my last post and I thought that this word, or rather mentality needs to be explored a bit more closely for it to make sense in the previous and how it ties into hockey.

Sisu is an expression that Finns use quite regularly and is internationally recognised in the world of sport due to commentators often (mainly in motorsports) referring to Finnish competitors of having Sisu. Roman Schaz described sisu by: "It is the ability to finish a task and get things done" in his book From Finland With Love. The word Sisu itself is closely associated with courage or bravery, though it doesn't mean the same thing. Sisu is something else, which I suppose embodies my whole existence in one way or another.

Sisu means getting things done and defeating obstacles no matter how hard they may seem. There is also a saying that goes "Suomalainen mies menee lapi harmaan kiven" or translated "A Finnish man will go through the most solid of rocks", this is Sisu. It means relentlessness and not giving up under any circumstance. Sisu means being able to overcome ones' inhibitions and rise above your very being.

So how does this relate to hockey? Hockey is a game that requires Sisu. When you look at the athletes or the professional Finns like Saku Koivu, who demonstrated great amounts of Sisu by defeating cancer and a severe eye injury or Teemu Selanne, who inturn demonstrated Sisu by being the only player to score back to back 40+ goal seasons while he was over the age of 35 and winning the Stanley Cup after 13 years of trying. That is Sisu! Koivu and Selanne are just a few examples of guys who demonstrate Sisu, there are others equally note worthy like Jere Lehtinen, Mikko Koivu, Antti Miettinen, Tuomo and Jarkko Ruutu to mention but a few.

To me Sisu means that I am able to do things that I discuss in this blog. To go and lace up the skates, fight for every opportunity to score a goal, to take a big hit and give a hit back. Most of all to me it means that I will never give up no matter how bleak a situation looks like.

I try and apply this 'methodology' to other aspects of life as well. In other aspects of my life Sisu has helped me through tough times and I use it to help others, to try and carry some of the weight they bare on their shoulders, or atleast make that load feel lighter.

The Time Draws Near

It is now March, which means that I have effectively come to the last stages of pre-season preparation. The so called 'off season' is now effectively behind me and I'm into the pre season training, which effectively is a six week intensive conditioning programme to get all systems going.

As I look at the calendar on the wall, I realise that it is almost getting to the stage where my work will be put to a serious test. What I started in late September is going to be scrutinised in every sense come April. There will not be a harsher critics than me, myself and I. Coming from a personally dissapointing season, I have a yearning to prove my capabilities and really show that true dedication will make winners out of people. September 2008 seems an awfully long time ago, but my road isn't even half way there. Through this blog and those of others have helped me put things into perspective and gain a new appreciation for the sport. I still think that I am the same fiery fighter inside I was a few years ago. The type of player who will drive to the net and sacrifice everything for the team. This season has to be the one where I step up my game. My on ice performance will be analysed by myself after each shift, period and game.

I am deliberately setting the bar high formyself, because if you don't reach high, you can't achieve anything. If I would have a modest goal I would probably reach it and be happy about it for a while, but not now. Now is the time to raise the performance,preparation and everything that goes on and off the ice.

I can't be gimicky like those professionals that I look up to, but I must be myself. I need to show that Finnish fighting spirit, Sisu as they call it, and bring that to my game more and more. The problem with trying to imitate a pro from the NHL is that you will end up looking like a twat. It is best to find your own personality and what works for you. I am not an Alex Ovechkin, Vinny Lecavalier or Saku Koivu. I am Janne Virtanen, but most importantly, I AM a hockey player. That is all that matters.

Comfort

Life is about finding comfort and being at ease with yourself and your surroundings. Sports and comfort are two things you wouldn’t necessarily associate together, but inadvertently they go hand in hand. Where some people may be comfortable on the couch with a beer, watching TV with their wife, it is something a hockey player cannot afford. Not on a game or training day at least. I tend to be a bit different in this respect to many other rec players, in that I might train harder than your run of the mill player.

Comfort comes with being able to push yourself outside the normal levels of performance. It might be delivering a hit on the biggest guy on the opposing team or simply skating till you’re sucking air through your ass. Comfort is being able to bust down the board, beat the D man and then have a shot on goal.

When do I feel most comfortable then? The thing is, I feel comfortable at home after a work out. If I don’t do exercise or work for hockey, I feel uncomfortable. I feel most comfortable in the locker room, when I’m putting on my skates. I think my first post is a good indication of the levels of comfort. I think the trash talk before the game is one of the finest aspects of the game or being part of a team and feeling accepted by that group of people.

The final bit of comfort on a game day comes from going through my normal game day routines and when you walk out of the tunnel to the ice, its the first two strides when the feeling of comfort completely sets in. It’s not necessarily about how the stick feels in your hands, the kit you’re wearing, but inner comfort of being able to face the opposition and go hell for leather every shift. It is the comfort of getting into uncomfortable situations on the ice.

Hockey and personal life are two things you need to keep separate in order to achieve true success and comfort is a big part of being successful. For the first time in a long time I feel comfortable on the ice and at home, but at the same time I can be uncomfortably comfortable on the ice and at home so I can prepare myself mentally for the game.

Heart

Going back a few posts (Fix You), I feel I forgot to touch on a very important area for athletes and well professionals in all walks of life in general. There is something that sets the great apart from the rest and enables to great to achieve greatness. Hockey, as said through out this blog, is about heart and it is an outlet that teaches you more about life and yourself in ways no university or diploma could ever do. I have explored the blogosphere and found some really good interesting blogs that draw from various sports or life experiences. These blogs and the individuals who write them give me great sense of motivation and encouragement in knowing that I am not a lone sports geek who is trying to find tangents and links between sport and life.

Sport and hockey in particular requires vast amounts of dedication and support from your loved ones in order for us to keep playing. I’m sure guys with kids feel the strains of the season even more than normal, but there is something in all of us that keeps us coming to the rink and lacing up our skates.

There is no simpler way of describing it, other than heart. Whether it means that we are playing on a Saturday night with a 23:30 face-off or that we have to travel all the way to Telford of all places to play a game, then we will do it. It takes heart and guts. What I find most interesting about hockey is the emotions you go through during a game, and what true qualities playing with heart shows. It shows that you really care, about the team and the result. When you play with heart, you don’t get down from the opponent scoring a goal, you go out there and you take it back. Heart means that you deliver some hits to create momentum for your team. It means that you go out there and you make things happen from thin air.

The downside of playing with heart is that you are passionate of what you do and you wont tolerate people who aren’t performing or who keep making simple mistakes. At this level people are prone to making mistakes and often you fly off the handle with the players and use harsh terms. I know I have done that to several players over the years and few of them have quit, more or less because I was constantly on their skin about it and wasn’t afraid to use harsh language. I guess you could say I was like Christian Bale on the set of the new Terminator flick.

The guys on my team who have shown tremendous amounts of heart, well there are many and they do it in their own way. But I think the most memorable is a guy throwing himself in front of a shot and eating it into his chest. This was no weak shot either and the guy still bears the mark of the puck on his chest. He blocked the shot (while the team was 8-3 down) and finished his shift, even though he undoubtedly was in a lot of pain. He didn’t whimper off to the changing rooms either but finished the whole game. That is what Don Cherry would classify as a class act and a guy who shows heart.

But what does this show of me as a person? It shows that I demand a lot from my team mates and expect that they treat me the same way. Playing with heart takes a lot, and like I said in here previously a game is a game is a rollercoaster ride that can take days to prepare for and live through. You go through all of it and you wouldn’t have it any other way.

W

One letter that epitomises each and every player's desire in a game. But in the corny words of Highlander, 'there can be only one' in the end. I started to think about this letter yesterday evening and I realised how obtaining that in a column on the stats sheet is not just about playing well during the 60 minutes. Getting a W in essence requires thorough preparation which is something that my previous team didn't seem to understand.

The key ingredients to W are: result, earning and caring. You cannot obtain a W without doing these things before a game. In essence the preparation for a game starts from Tuesday night when we get off the ice at training. After that it is up to each and every player to prepare for the games individually. The unfortunate thing of playing at this level is that there really aren't other chances for training. Everything after a team training is up to you and it pains me to say that a lot of guys don't understand that. Though the vast majority of the more experienced players come prepared to game days, there are still individuals who drag the team down, because they are not prepared and they have not carried anything from trainings to the locker room on a game day.

Result, earning and caring. Three simple things you need to do before you can ever dream of a W. To obtain that W you also need Wisdom. In hockey the key to wisdom is relatively simple and I suppose you can apply it to other aspects of life as well. The key to wisdom is setting yourself a goal for tomorrow. If your goal is to win and play a good game and all your actions leading up to the game serves that goal and that you will be a good player then you will accomplish your results, earning and caring. It is after that when you can really talk about winning.

In the end, we play this game because we love it and we don't enjoy being in the losing end of a game, but if we are, then you need to bring it back to the drawing board and work on the things that let you down and make sure that every player is playing for the same goals, rather than for an individual. The old saying of the name on the front of the shirt is more important than the one on the back has never had a more prominent ring to it.