Teemu Selanne
Teemu Selanne
Teemu Ilmari Selänne, nicknamed "The Finnish Flash", is a Finnish former professional ice hockey winger. He began his professional career in 1989–90 with Jokerit of the SM-liiga and played 21 seasons in the National Hockey Leaguefor the Winnipeg Jets, Anaheim Ducks, San Jose Sharks and Colorado Avalanche. Selänne is the highest scoring Finn in NHL history, and one of the highest overall; he retired in 2014 11th all-time with 684 goals and 15th with 1,457 points. He holds numerous team...
ProfessionHockey Player
Date of Birth3 July 1970
CityHelsinki, Finland
But he's very relaxed, too. He's one of the guys who smiles and says, 'Oh, is there a game today?' He puts everybody else at ease.
It's awesome. The team is playing with so much confidence right now.
I think it helps that we have played so long together. We have great chemistry. We have everything that a great team needs.
It wasn't the prettiest (win), but we did a lot of good things. Even when they were up two goals we never gave up.
Bad passes. Absolutely bad passes. We panicked at times.
I hit a stick or a puck but it's all the same. It doesn't really matter.
I'm always joking about it -- he's the only guy who can play 30 minutes without breaking a sweat. He's so smooth and effortless. What really surprised me is how good he is in the battles. He's so strong. It looks like he's never hurried. It's unbelievable. I had no clue how good he was.
He has scored a lot of big goals. This guy has been an unbelievable part of our success.
He has all the tools. He has speed, he hits, he has a great shot, everything. It's fun to see a guy put it all together like that. He has made our line dangerous.
He's not noisy. He's always the same. Never high, never low. I think that shows how strong he is mentally.
I was hoping that this was going to happen at home in front of our own fans. Of course the big thing was that we won.
Obviously, when the old Soviet Union broke down, I think it took some years until they feel they are a country again. And I think now, they have really come together again.
I'm healthy, I've got all the wheels back. When you don't have your wheels you can't excel at this level. The whole year has been excellent, I'm really happy my knee is good again. I enjoy the game again, I've got my smile back.
Actually, we met once when I was a little boy. It was outdoors in Finland with my buddies. I dreamed of playing that game against Sweden in the Olympic final. That time, we won. So hopefully, we repeat that.