Monte-Cristo
Jäsen
- Suosikkijoukkue
- HIFK, Sens, sympatiat Kerholle
Tällaisen Stuba siis lähetti JA:n keskustelun down timen aikana Kiekkopesään. Jutut ovat Faceoff.comista.
<b>Caloun dropped in Helsinki</b>
<i>By TOM RATSCHUNAS
Faceoff.com correspondent</i>
The HIFK Helsinki hockey club, currently fifth in the top Finnish national league - SM-Liiga - standings, has decided to clean house and that decision cost the job of its Czech-born centre Jan Caloun.
Caloun, 28, Nagano Olympic gold winner and world champion from Lillehammer, returned to Finland earlier this season, after he found he just couldn't crack the Columbus Blue Jackets lineup.
Previously, before the North American detour, Caloun used to lead Finnish scoring standings for several years.
Caloun's teammates say they can't understand the team's decision.
"He's the scapegoat for the rest of the team," said Jaroslav Bednar, currently second in the Finnish scoring standings (31 goals, 28 assists for 59 points in 55 games).
"We don't understand it," added Bednar, "the guy's come back and recorded 22 points in the 23 games he's played since his returned. What's their problem?"
Caloun is on a paid furlough, the team said, and is to start practising for the next season as he was not in shape to play to his potential after his return from North America. He is still under contract with HIFK for the next two seasons.
The only player fired in the new coach Pentti Matikainen's shake-up was centre Aki Uusikartano.
Also, one of Finland's all-time greats Mika Nieminen has been on furlough for the past two games. During these two games HIFK has turned their loosing streak into two-back-to back 5-4 wins over Ässät and TPS. In the Ässät game, HIFK dressed eight juniors.
Against TPS, the fourth line consisted of juniors but they got no ice time.
The Ässät win secured a playoff spot for HIFK.
Tom Ratschunas is a hockey statistician, director of the world's leading hockey information and research company and a freelance journalist.
Ja sitten toinen.
<b>Caloun feels betrayed by teammates</b>
<i>By PAVEL BARTA
Faceoff.com correspondent</i>
"I'm most disappointed in my teammates," says Jan Caloun, 28, who had been sent on an enforced vacation by his team HIFK Helsinki, of the top Finnish league.
Caloun returned to Finland - where he used to star - last November, after appearing in only 11 games for the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets for whom he didn't score a single goal.
Caloun spoke to a Czech newspaper, Lidove noviny, and denied he felt he had any problems with the team's new coach, Pentti Matikainen.
"He was running the team for only a short period of time but it seemed to me everything was working out fine," Caloun said.
"I think I should be looking for reasons in things that happened right after I had returned from overseas. Right in the first five games (over in Helsinki) I began scoring and got 11 points. I felt I was becoming a part of the team but one day, some of my teammates got together and wrote a letter (to team management) saying I was getting way too much ice time. They wanted my ice time cut. They disappointed me terribly."
Just two seasons ago, when Caloun topped the Finnish league's scoring standings, he was very popular in Helsinki and his teammates respected him.
But the team has changed a lot since then.
"There were only three or four players left (from that era)," said Caloun in the Lidove noviny interview. "On occasion, it seemed to me they (his new teammates) were not so much concerned about the team's winning as they were about their personal stats.
"Their petition had, obviously, a negative impact on me, too. I still have not recovered from the feeling of being stabbed in the back, and I regret it terribly.
"But that's how the Finns operate," said Caloun. "Whenever there's a problem, they won't tell you in your face. They will either write letters or just simmer inside."
When coach Matikainen told Caloun his season with HIFK was over, the player said he respected his decision. He still has two years to run on his contract and he plans to honour that, too.
"No, I won't return to North America," Caloun said. "The NHL is for me a closed chapter. But, right now, I feel psychically very tired. There's stuff written in the newspapers, a lot of it made up, such as that I had a fight with my teammates during practice, and the journalists can be pretty harmful."
What are his plans?
"We're thinking with (wife) Marketa of going to northern Finland. I'd get some rest (cross-country) skiing and clean up my mind," said Caloun.
<i>Pavel Barta is a writer for Hokej magazine in Prague.</i>
stuba [ 19/03/01 - 15:16:43 ]
<b>Caloun dropped in Helsinki</b>
<i>By TOM RATSCHUNAS
Faceoff.com correspondent</i>
The HIFK Helsinki hockey club, currently fifth in the top Finnish national league - SM-Liiga - standings, has decided to clean house and that decision cost the job of its Czech-born centre Jan Caloun.
Caloun, 28, Nagano Olympic gold winner and world champion from Lillehammer, returned to Finland earlier this season, after he found he just couldn't crack the Columbus Blue Jackets lineup.
Previously, before the North American detour, Caloun used to lead Finnish scoring standings for several years.
Caloun's teammates say they can't understand the team's decision.
"He's the scapegoat for the rest of the team," said Jaroslav Bednar, currently second in the Finnish scoring standings (31 goals, 28 assists for 59 points in 55 games).
"We don't understand it," added Bednar, "the guy's come back and recorded 22 points in the 23 games he's played since his returned. What's their problem?"
Caloun is on a paid furlough, the team said, and is to start practising for the next season as he was not in shape to play to his potential after his return from North America. He is still under contract with HIFK for the next two seasons.
The only player fired in the new coach Pentti Matikainen's shake-up was centre Aki Uusikartano.
Also, one of Finland's all-time greats Mika Nieminen has been on furlough for the past two games. During these two games HIFK has turned their loosing streak into two-back-to back 5-4 wins over Ässät and TPS. In the Ässät game, HIFK dressed eight juniors.
Against TPS, the fourth line consisted of juniors but they got no ice time.
The Ässät win secured a playoff spot for HIFK.
Tom Ratschunas is a hockey statistician, director of the world's leading hockey information and research company and a freelance journalist.
Ja sitten toinen.
<b>Caloun feels betrayed by teammates</b>
<i>By PAVEL BARTA
Faceoff.com correspondent</i>
"I'm most disappointed in my teammates," says Jan Caloun, 28, who had been sent on an enforced vacation by his team HIFK Helsinki, of the top Finnish league.
Caloun returned to Finland - where he used to star - last November, after appearing in only 11 games for the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets for whom he didn't score a single goal.
Caloun spoke to a Czech newspaper, Lidove noviny, and denied he felt he had any problems with the team's new coach, Pentti Matikainen.
"He was running the team for only a short period of time but it seemed to me everything was working out fine," Caloun said.
"I think I should be looking for reasons in things that happened right after I had returned from overseas. Right in the first five games (over in Helsinki) I began scoring and got 11 points. I felt I was becoming a part of the team but one day, some of my teammates got together and wrote a letter (to team management) saying I was getting way too much ice time. They wanted my ice time cut. They disappointed me terribly."
Just two seasons ago, when Caloun topped the Finnish league's scoring standings, he was very popular in Helsinki and his teammates respected him.
But the team has changed a lot since then.
"There were only three or four players left (from that era)," said Caloun in the Lidove noviny interview. "On occasion, it seemed to me they (his new teammates) were not so much concerned about the team's winning as they were about their personal stats.
"Their petition had, obviously, a negative impact on me, too. I still have not recovered from the feeling of being stabbed in the back, and I regret it terribly.
"But that's how the Finns operate," said Caloun. "Whenever there's a problem, they won't tell you in your face. They will either write letters or just simmer inside."
When coach Matikainen told Caloun his season with HIFK was over, the player said he respected his decision. He still has two years to run on his contract and he plans to honour that, too.
"No, I won't return to North America," Caloun said. "The NHL is for me a closed chapter. But, right now, I feel psychically very tired. There's stuff written in the newspapers, a lot of it made up, such as that I had a fight with my teammates during practice, and the journalists can be pretty harmful."
What are his plans?
"We're thinking with (wife) Marketa of going to northern Finland. I'd get some rest (cross-country) skiing and clean up my mind," said Caloun.
<i>Pavel Barta is a writer for Hokej magazine in Prague.</i>
stuba [ 19/03/01 - 15:16:43 ]