GDT: Aho and Kuokkanen vs. guys, Karpat Alumni vs. Liiga Al., live stream 11.30 am ET (?)

[Lempo]

The Kärpät Alumni vs. Liiga Alumni charity game starts in 18.30 local time, or little less than 4 hours from now. I believe it's 11.30 am ET, but please confirm.

Arena seats 15 €, wooden seats 12 €, standing spots 7 €.


You may be able to see the legal stream in:

http://www.is.fi/jaakiekko/art-2000005321809.html

or

http://www.ruutu.fi/stream/3055709


Kärpät Alumni

Goalies:
35 Pekka Rinne
32 Tuomas Tarkki

Skaters:
2 Ville Pokka
4 Hannu Jalonen
5 Lasse Kukkonen
6 Ilkka Mikkola
8 Juha Tuohimaa
8 Hannes Hyvönen
9 Jesse Puljujärvi
11 Kimmo Koskenkorva
12 Esa Pirnes
17 Pekka Tuomisto
18 Mikko Alikoski
19 Veikko Torkkeli
20 Sebastian Aho
20 Jouko Kämäräinen
21 Janne Salpa
22 Janne Kuokkanen
24 Jari Viuhkola
25 Joni Pitkänen
26 Mikko Lehtonen
27 Pekka Arbelius
28 Pekka Järvelä
44 Janne Niinimaa

Coaches:
Kari Mäkinen
Olli Lahtinen

Liiga Alumni

Goalies:
70 Ville Husso
31 Ari Sulander

Skaters:
4 Ossi Väänänen
6 Julius Honka
8 Sami Niku
10 Roope Hintz
10 Esa Tikkanen
11 Jukka Porvari
13 Veli-Pekka Ketola (C)
17 Kari Eloranta
18 Mika Alatalo
21 Jyrki Lumme
26 Jere Lehtinen
27 Teppo Numminen
29 Patrik Laine
60 Markus Granlund
64 Mikael Granlund
90 Marko Jantunen
91 Iiro Pakarinen

Coaches:
Hannu Aravirta
Pentti Matikainen

Click to read more...

 

[Cardiac Jerks]

Damn, some great old players on that liiga alumni team.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

You can undo the title.

For that post, click on Edit. Then click on "Go Advanced" and it will let you edit the title.

Is Saarela even healthy? I thought he was having some sort of surgery?

 

[Lempo]

Thanks BBA, fixed.

 

[DaveG]

Tuomas Tarkki. God I remember back in the day thinking he was going to be an absolute badass. And really he was at the NCAA and FEL levels, but he never got at shot at the show. Had 1 year playing for the Atlanta org when they were still a dumpster fire. Then again we still had Kowalski and Nastiuk at the time and were splitting an affiliate in the AHL with Colorado who also had a goalie (or two?) down there so not sure he would have fared any better in our org. I remember us going after him as an NCAA UFA though.

 

[Lempo]

I think Karpat will start with that other guy and see how it goes.

 

[Surrounded By Ahos]

Joni

He got a bad rap at times (I was at a game once and Seidenberg turned the puck over. Some guy a few seats over yelled 'Damn it Pitkanen!') but he was a pretty good defenseman for us. I'm glad he's still able to skate well enough to play in a charity game at least.

 

[Lempo]

Aho robbed by Ari Sulander.

 

[Lempo]

Aho score. Pulju, Kuoks assist.

2-3 for Liiga after first. 2nd period coming up, then a skills competition.

 

[AD Skinner]

I still maintain that Pitkanen was a total boss. He probably shouldn't have been leaned on as a #1 the way he was here but he'd have been a rock solid #2 for any team. It was a bummer the way he seemed to rub so many people wrong and an even bigger bummer the way his career had to end.

 

[geehaad]

Joni

He got a bad rap at times (I was at a game once and Seidenberg turned the puck over. Some guy a few seats over yelled 'Damn it Pitkanen!') but he was a pretty good defenseman for us. I'm glad he's at still able to skate well enough to play in a charity game at least.

I always liked his game. Yes, Jokinen was the one with the accurate shot to tie the game against NJ in Game 7 in 2009, but it was Pitkanen who found him there and made a pass that Jokinen could bury. Credit.

 

[DaveG]

I still maintain that Pitkanen was a total boss. He probably shouldn't have been leaned on as a #1 the way he was here but he'd have been a rock solid #2 for any team. It was a bummer the way he seemed to rub so many people wrong and an even bigger bummer the way his career had to end.

Joni was a #1 in the sense that a guy like JayBo in his prime was as well. Not someone that's going to blow people off the ice with his stats, but man could he ever eat minutes and look damn good doing it. IMHO his game would be the perfect compliment to Faulk right now to just let Justin rack up the points offensively.

 

[Lempo]

Tuomas Tarkki denies Patrik Laine left and right.

 

[AD Skinner]

Joni was a #1 in the sense that a guy like JayBo in his prime was as well. Not someone that's going to blow people off the ice with his stats, but man could he ever eat minutes and look damn good doing it. IMHO his game would be the perfect compliment to Faulk right now to just let Justin rack up the points offensively.

Oh I completely agree. I was trying to say an ideal situation for him would be like you described, part of a two-headed monster instead of being THE guy on defense. As usual I didn't say it as effectively as I should have

 

[Lempo]

Kuokkanen beats Hintz for technics track.


... and Aho vs. Mi.Granlund goes to camera check. Granlund.

 

[Lempo]

Joni Pitkänen in speed contest vs. Alatalo. Pitkänen takes the pair clearly, but Pulju was fastest overall.

 

[Navin R Slavin]

Joni was a #1 in the sense that a guy like JayBo in his prime was as well. Not someone that's going to blow people off the ice with his stats, but man could he ever eat minutes and look damn good doing it. IMHO his game would be the perfect compliment to Faulk right now to just let Justin rack up the points offensively.

It's the biggest thing I still hold against Maniscalco.

I believe his constant references to "Joni-land" had a significant impact in turning the fanbase against him. It was ********, and we saw just how much ******** it was when we no longer had him to blame.

 

[Lempo]

Always relevant 2 Unlimited.

 

[Joe McGrath]

Joni was one of those guys where you could tell instantly if a fan had a clue or not. If you watched him play and thought he wasn't a legit top pairing defenseman, that's all I needed to know about your knowledge of the sport of hockey. And boy were there plenty of those folks.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Outside of fans that hated Joni because of guys like Maniscalco, there were a few other reasons Joni wasn't very popular among some fans. Some legit, some not so legit.

In the non-legit category. First, Joni was such a fantastic skater that he barely looked like he was giving effort. He was though, it's just his skating looked absolutely effortless that it appeared he wasn't trying. It's what allowed him to play so many minutes because he didn't have to expend extra energy to get up and down the ice. Compare that to LaRose, who fans thought 'because he's pumping his arms and moving his legs so fast, he must be trying harder." (BTW, stole that from S4C). Secondly, Joni, for his size wasn't a very physical defenseman. As we see with guys like Slavin though, you don't need to be, yet some fans thought he should be more physical because he was big. Thirdly, he was quiet and socially awkward which wasn't appealing to fans.

On the "somewhat" legit side, Joni was never able to really translate his fantastic talents to more offensive production. It seemed like nobody but Jussi ever knew what Joni was going to do with the puck in the offensive zone and I don't know how many times he "circled the wagons" skating it around the offensive zone without accomplishing anything. It's like guys didn't know what to do so stood around and waited. Secondly, Joni was a bit dirty with his stick work. Not terrible, but it was noticeable an put some fans off. Lastly, I'm not sure how well he got along with others on the team. I've heard by more than one person that he wasn't very well liked, outside of the Finns on the team.

All that said, he was clearly our best defenseman and a legit top pairing guy for a number of years, yet a large contingent of our fan base indeed had an irrational hate for him.

 

[Lempo]

Next up: Jussi Jokinen All-Stars vs. JHT Kalajoki, tomorrow at Kalajoki, 3 pm EET:

http://jht.fi/jj-allstars.36.html

Pekka Rinne #35
Nashville Predators

Jussi Jokinen #36
Edmonton Oilers

Mikael Granlund #64
Minnesota Wild

Leo Komarov #47
Toronto Maple Leafs

Markus Granlund #60
Vancouver Canucks

Jesse Puljujärvi #98
Edmonton Oilers

Joni Pitkänen #25
Carolina Hurricanes / Kärpät Alumni

Aleksander Barkov #16
Florida Panthers

Sebastian Aho #20
Carolina Hurricanes

Miikka Salomäki #22
Nashville Predators

Markus Nutivaara #11
Columbus Blue Jackets

Patrik Laine #29
Winnipeg Jets

Ville Pokka #2
Chicago Blackhawks / Rockford IceHogs

Janne Kuokkanen #72
Carolina Hurricanes / London Knights


I don't think there's a stream but I try post if there is.

 

[Lempo]

So, a glimpse of a horrid world where many, many fine players wear Oilers colors (because Jussi made them) and places are rife with ads:




Aho score (Laine, Puljujarvi):




Aho score more (Laine, Puljujarvi):




Laine score on Aho assist:




The song playing in these Youtube videos obviously is Darude - Sandstrom.

 

[bleedgreen]

I thought Joni was a perfect number 2, and a poorly miscast number 1. Just wasn't his thing. He was at his best being kind of quiet. He would've been an awesome partner for a developed Faulk, as others have noted.

 

[JJTT]

Kuokkanen shootout goal was pretty good.

https://youtu.be/ZvEU3BEcrUg?t=16m30s

 

[MinJaBen]

Kuokkanen shootout goal was pretty good.

https://youtu.be/ZvEU3BEcrUg?t=16m30s

He made that look like he wasn't even trying.