Teemu Selanne is unquestionably hockey royalty, having won countless accolades—including a Stanley Cup championship and four Olympic medals—during his storied career. This deep dive into the life of a unique superstar, top athlete, and family man shows that such success and longevity have not come without complex hurdles. How did a youngster from Helsinki mature into a world-class player, one of the best of all time? What kind of personal obstacles has Selanne encountered, and how did he manage the immense pressure of representing his country and striving for his sport's top prizes? Featuring never-before-told stories from Selanne's NHL years with the with the Winnipeg Jets, Anaheim Ducks, San Jose Sharks, and Colorado Avalanche, as well as rare color photos from his personal collection, this authorized biography is an essential read for all hockey fans.
Teemu Selanne is unquestionably hockey royalty, having won countless accolades—including a Stanley Cup championship and four Olympic medals—during his storied career. This deep dive into the life of a unique superstar, top athlete, and family man shows that such success and longevity have not come without complex hurdles. How did a youngster from Helsinki mature into a world-class player, one of the best of all time? What kind of personal obstacles has Selanne encountered, and how did he manage the immense pressure of representing his country and striving for his sport's top prizes? Featuring never-before-told stories from Selanne's NHL years with the with the Winnipeg Jets, Anaheim Ducks, San Jose Sharks, and Colorado Avalanche, as well as rare color photos from his personal collection, this authorized biography is an essential read for all hockey fans.
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Overview
Teemu Selanne is unquestionably hockey royalty, having won countless accolades—including a Stanley Cup championship and four Olympic medals—during his storied career. This deep dive into the life of a unique superstar, top athlete, and family man shows that such success and longevity have not come without complex hurdles. How did a youngster from Helsinki mature into a world-class player, one of the best of all time? What kind of personal obstacles has Selanne encountered, and how did he manage the immense pressure of representing his country and striving for his sport's top prizes? Featuring never-before-told stories from Selanne's NHL years with the with the Winnipeg Jets, Anaheim Ducks, San Jose Sharks, and Colorado Avalanche, as well as rare color photos from his personal collection, this authorized biography is an essential read for all hockey fans.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781641252805 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Triumph Books |
| Publication date: | 11/05/2019 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 320 |
| File size: | 5 MB |
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Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
Part One
A Dream Come True
Coto de Caza, California, June 6, 2007
Southern California was in the middle of a heat wave, with scorching temperatures and humidity turning the area saunalike. Most of the Anaheim Ducks players had spent the previous night at a hotel, but Teemu Selanne woke up at home. Hockey players are creatures of habit, and on the eve of the biggest game of his career to date, Selanne preferred sleeping in his own bed. It might have been the eve of Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final, but Selanne treated it as just another home game, which meant familiar surroundings rather than a hotel room.
He ached all over. It had been a long season, and that night's pressure-packed game was going to be his 103rd of the season and the 21st in the grinding marathon known as the Stanley Cup playoffs. It would also be the Ducks' first chance to clinch the most desired championship in hockey, the Stanley Cup, the Holy Grail of the coolest game on ice.
"I slept at home before every home game because I slept much better there. Almost everybody else in the Ducks stayed at a hotel throughout the playoffs," Teemu said. "Although that night, I didn't sleep a wink. It was so hard to even sleep.
"Pretty much every night in the Finals I did not sleep that much. I was so tired and beaten up like everybody else at that point. The playoffs are two months of war, mentally and physically. It is so hard. Every shift is so challenging. During the season you can take shifts off but in the playoffs, one shift can change the whole thing.
"I knew what was at stake. Funny thing is, in the playoffs, your body is like a racehorse and is ready to go. I knew we could win the Stanley Cup that night, and I was awake and ready to go."
In 14 seasons with the Winnipeg Jets, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, the San Jose Sharks, and the Colorado Avalanche, Selanne had earned the reputation of a marksman, a skilled scorer. He had hands of gold and lightning-fast speed on the ice.
But one prize had escaped his clutches — the Stanley Cup. For players in the world's best professional hockey league, the NHL, nothing else compared and nothing else mattered. The Stanley Cup is the hardest club trophy to win; after a grinding, 82-game regular season, NHL teams have to endure the pressure-packed playoffs.
The closest thing to winning the Cup is winning an Olympic gold medal. Selanne's silver medal from the 2006 Torino Olympic Winter Games was merely a reminder that a championship team wins its last game of the season. You don't mine silver in hockey.
Players often play hurt, but they never play when they are injured, and Selanne's body ached all over. But he was determined not to let a championship slip away again, not when reaching the top was one victory away.
The Stanley Cup is extremely difficult to win: many, possibly most, players go an entire career without even having had the chance to play for it.
Selanne re-signed with the Ducks in 2005 and nobody knew if his wonky knee, which underwent reconstruction the year before, would hold up to the rigors of an 82-game schedule plus a punishing playoff run.
Selanne was a fan favorite during his first tour with Anaheim, and when he reached out to management about returning to the team, he told them he was willing to play "for nothing." "I didn't care about the money," he said. "I believed in the team and I wanted to stay at home."
His goal was to be on the first California-based team to win the Cup. And the Ducks were good; some said it was best Ducks team ever.
The old adage that timing is everything spoke to this point in Selanne's career. An ugly labor dispute between the NHL and the NHL Players' Association had wiped out the entire 2004 — 05 season. This provided Selanne ample time to recover from reconstructive knee surgery, timing that gave him a chance to heal.
His comeback was one for the ages. The veteran forward led his team in scoring in 2005 — 06 and in 2006 — 07 at the age of 35 and 36, respectively.
On the morning of Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Ottawa Senators, Teemu did what he had done thousands of times before. He woke up, ate a bowl of cereal with berries, had a coffee, and left for the rink.
No words were needed, and no words could have encapsulated the moment.
Family and friends have always meant everything to Selanne, and there was no chance he would not have shared this playoff run with those who meant the most to him. On hand at his sprawling home in Coto de Caza were Teemu's mother and father, Liisa and Ilmari; his twin brother, Paavo, and sister-in-law, Reija; his wife, Sirpa; and his mother-in-law, Terttu.
Ilmari and Liisa were separated by then, and Ilmari's new wife, Kirsi, hadn't been able make the trip for work reasons. Sirpa's father, Erkki, had been stopped from traveling on doctor's orders. Teemu's brother Panu didn't get a new passport in time and had to stay in Finland.
"I don't think many other players are used to having their mother and mother-in-law living with them during the playoffs," Teemu said with a laugh.
It's not like the Selanne household was an oasis of calm to begin with. Teemu and Sirpa had three boys under 12. Eemil was 11, Eetu, 9, and Leevi, 7, and it was constant chaos.
To add to the drama, Teemu and Sirpa were sitting on a secret they had shared only with their parents: Sirpa was pregnant. "We had always considered our family to be complete until I wanted to have another little baby," Sirpa said.
Not just a baby, though: a daughter. Teemu was excited about the idea of being a father to a girl. "I had never even given it a thought before," he said.
A fan had casually given him a copy of the book How to Choose the Sex of Your Baby years earlier, and when a family friend claimed to have had success following the book's instructions, Teemu and Sirpa decided to give it a shot.
Well, Sirpa got pregnant in April, during the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, in which the Ducks played the Minnesota Wild. Perhaps, Sirpa's pregnancy gave Teemu the distraction he needed off the ice; he believes it gave him an energy boost on the ice.
On the ice, the Ducks were unstoppable.
They beat the Minnesota Wild in five games and then took down the Vancouver Canucks in the second round of the playoffs. That set up a meeting against the powerhouse Detroit Red Wings in the Western Conference Final, and the Ducks were determined not to have history repeat. Anaheim had gone deep in the playoffs the year earlier, only to lose the conference final to the Edmonton Oilers in five games. In 2007, many experts expected them to get to at least the conference final again.
"We had been a big Stanley Cup favorite when the camps opened, and we were very driven from the get-go," Teemu said.
After breakfast, it was business as usual, as if Game 5 were just another day at the office. Teemu drove to the rink for the morning skate while Sirpa took the kids to school. The only slightly unusual thing about the lead-up to the game was that Sirpa and the kids would leave home for the game earlier than normal.
Teemu, meanwhile, went through his game-day routine and rituals without missing a step. He drove his silver Mercedes ML63 to the rink, blasting Finnish pop on the stereo. He parked his car in the Honda Center basement and said hello to the arena staff. He gave his keys to a guard.
"I was very calm and quiet. I did my normal routine. I had a cup of coffee, fixed my equipment, and stepped on the ice, just like before any other game. The locker room was very quiet. I think everyone else felt the same way. It was a good feeling, you could feel it, and everybody knew the situation.
"I remember being in the locker room and it was laser focus, everybody was on the same page. Guys are getting treatments, and there were many more guys than usual because everybody was beat up.
"I always said if I do not win this, it will be sad. I think I deserve this. People have no idea how hard it is to win the Stanley Cup. And even that year, I think back to how lucky you have to be. The breaks have to go your way."
The morning skate was a light one, and afterward Teemu rode the stationary bike before stretching. As his teammates showered and headed to the hotel, Selanne sat in front of his locker. It was the same stall he had had in his first stop in Anaheim after he was traded from Winnipeg in February 1996.
The media stood by, wanting to hear what the most important player in Anaheim's history had on his mind; Teemu had nothing but time for the media members. Teemu was living his dream and now, just a handful of hours before the most important game of his life, the affable Selanne was more than willing to share his thoughts with everybody.
"Teemu is the real thing. He's never disappointed me, and he always gives the most interesting comments," said Helene Elliott, Los Angeles Times columnist and the first female journalist to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Once the scrum was over, Selanne joined his teammates at the hotel for the pregame meal, rest, and final preparations. "I usually took a nap at the hotel and went back to the rink, but that day I couldn't sleep at all. I was so pumped for the game," he said.
The Ducks had won the first two games of the Cup Final at home 3 — 2 and 1–0, but the Senators cut the margin in half by winning their first home game 5–3. The Ducks took Game 4 by a 3–2 margin, leaving them one win short of the ultimate prize, which they now had a chance to win on home ice in front of their devoted fans.
As is customary in the NHL, when a team has a chance to clinch the Stanley Cup, the NHL makes sure the trophy is in the building, all shined up in the event of its being presented after that game.
"Everything had gone exactly according to plan. We had the opportunity to clinch it in our own arena, in front of our fans. We were in the zone in Game 5," Teemu said.
While Teemu was focusing on what would be the biggest game of his career, Sirpa was in charge of getting the rest of the clan to the rink. Her parents took the Selanne children to a luxury box they co-owned with Ducks captain Scott Niedermayer. Sirpa was across the street at a restaurant called JT Schmid's to meet up with Teemu's buddies and some Finnish fans before she joined other players' wives and girlfriends in the VIP area at the arena.
Teemu has always arranged for his friends to have tickets to his games, but the playoffs are unpredictable. A team can win the Cup in four games — or five, or six, or the best-of-seven Finals could go the distance. When Ottawa won Game 3, that meant there would be at least a Game 5 in Anaheim. Teemu started to scramble for the tickets.
Teemu has always been loyal to his family and friends. His hockey posse consisted of about 20 people, including childhood friends, more recent friends from the NHL cities he had played in, and friends of friends.
Teemu was close to a group of friends and family from Finland who faithfully followed his career once he made the jump to the NHL. He had promised to pay for their flights and hotels if the Ducks made it to the Stanley Cup Final, and Teemu's brother Paavo and seven others were on hand for the historic moment. The guys wore orange T-shirts that had Finnish flags and Ducks and Teemu featured on them.
Selanne's cheering section of Finnish celebrities included Die Hard 2 and The Long Kiss Goodnight director Renny Harlin. His fans became media favorites as well, often shown on the scoreboard and in broadcasts. Reporters referred to them as "Crazy Finns."
Teemu was a longtime fan favorite in Anaheim, and it was common to see Ducks fans wearing his No. 8 jersey in the stands. In fact, seeing a Ducks jersey without the No. 8 on it was the anomaly.
The Selannes were treated like royalty. When Eemil, Eetu, and Leevi got restless and wanted to leave the private box at the arena, they could walk anywhere in the rink and the doors were opened for them. "The arena was like their second home," Teemu said.
As part of the in-game entertainment for the fans in the stands, facts, figures, and trivia relating to the Stanley Cup were displayed on the scoreboard at the Honda Center, and one popular item about the magical 2007 playoffs was about Teemu.
Of active players in the NHL, only the Vancouver Canucks' Trevor Linden and fellow Finn Teppo Numminen of the Buffalo Sabres had played more regular season games without winning the Stanley Cup than Teemu. Linden had played 1,323 games, Numminen 1,314, and Teemu 1,041 without hoisting the trophy. Linden had come oh-so-close in 1994, going to Game 7 with the Canucks before losing to the New York Rangers.
The all-time leader in NHL games without winning the Cup is Selanne's former teammate, Phil Housley, who played 1,495 regular season games over 21 seasons.
Game 5, coincidentally, started at 5:00 pm Pacific Time to suit prime time television audiences in the Eastern US and Canada. In Finland, the puck dropped at 3:00 am, and all major Finnish media had reporters in Anaheim. The Finnish newspapers were making good use of their staff on hand, running story after story on Teemu's big chance to finally win the Cup.
"now! Teemu Selanne one win shy of a dream come true. Teemu Selanne is the greatest of all-time in Finnish hockey," screamed Ilta-Sanomat, Finland's biggest newspaper.
The No. 2 paper, Iltalehti, shouted: "now, teemu!"
Anaheim took control of the game early on and it seemed that now, teemu was surely going to take place at the Honda Center. The Ducks scored twice in the first period and never looked back. The Senators fought back, with captain Daniel Alfredsson scoring twice, but Travis Moen netted his second of the night early in the third period for a 5–2 lead for Anaheim. Corey Perry scored the Ducks' sixth goal with 3:00 remaining in the third to put the game well out of reach.
* * *
After Perry's goal, Teemu fought back the tears on the bench for the last 3:00 of the game. "You soak everything in. I had goosebumps all over, and [head coach] Randy Carlyle just kept putting me out there and I didn't want to go. I just wanted to watch the fans. When the buzzer went off, you can't describe the feeling. It was, 'Thank God it is over.' And I thought at that time that it was my career, it was over. I thought 100 per cent this is it, and when they brought that Stanley Cup, I could not wait to get my hands on it."
In the stands, Teemu's Crazy Finns took off the orange T-shirts with the Finnish flag to reveal another shirt with the message mission stanley completed.
The Ducks won the Cup in their 14 season in the NHL; they were the first California-based Cup-winning team and the first on the West Coast since the league exclusively began competing for the Cup after the Western Hockey League folded in 1926.
Emotions ran high both on the ice and in the stands.
"It was wild," Teemu recalls. "We knew after two periods that we were going to win, which gave me a chance to just enjoy every second of the last period. With no pressure in the third period, I could take it all in in a special way."
After the final buzzer, confetti rained down from the ceiling of the Honda Center and the entire Anaheim bench stormed the ice, piling on goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere.
Teemu wasn't the only veteran player to win his first Cup. Somewhere in the pile there was Rob Niedermayer, a 14-season veteran who got to win his first championship with his brother Scott, who added a fourth Cup (after three with the New Jersey Devils) onto an impressive resume that already included a World Juniors gold, a World Championship gold, an Olympic gold, a World Cup championship, a Western Hockey League championship, and a Memorial Cup win.
"It's probably the most memorable of my four Cup wins because I was able to win that time with Rob and Teemu," said Scott Niedermayer.
For all the other Ducks, this was their first Stanley Cup. Defenseman Chris Pronger won the Cup for the first time in his 13 season, and goaltender Giguere in his 11.
After 1,041 regular season games and 86 playoff games, Selanne could say he was a Stanley Cup champion. The guy who told close friend Thomas Steen when he broke into the NHL as a rookie in the 1992–93 season that he would only spend three seasons on this side of the Atlantic Ocean was a veteran of 15 seasons.
Selanne knew how precious this moment was — how lucky he was to be on top and how little things can have a big impact and be the difference between a contender and a pretender: "If you go to a corner with a guy and you know the other guy is way stronger than you, and it is going to hurt ... if you let that guy go first, you are done. One shift can change the whole thing. You never know. You just have to get into the playoffs."
Years later, during Selanne's last playoff appearance in the NHL, he recalled watching the 2014 playoff series between the Los Angeles Kings and the San Jose Sharks at his home with his son. The Kings trailed 3 — 0 in the series and were one loss away from elimination. Teemu and his son made a bet.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Teemu Selanne"
by .
Copyright © 2019 Ari Mennander and Teemu Selanne.
Excerpted by permission of Triumph Books LLC.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Introduction,
Part One,
A Dream Come True,
Straight Outta Espoo,
The Jokers,
Making of a Star,
To the Top,
Part Two,
The Finnish Flash Is Born,
Quack, Quack, Quack,
The Mighty Duck,
Cup Hunt in the Wilderness,
Part Three,
Second Coming,
The Finnish Flash Is Back,
Two More Years,
One More Year(s),
Game On,
Part Four,
Father, Husband, Brother, Buddy, Businessman, Retiree,
Teemu Selanne Career Statistics, Awards, and Achievements,
Photo Gallery,