Saku Koivu
Saku Koivu
Saku Antero Koivuis a Finnish former professional ice hockey player who played in the National Hockey League. He began his NHL career with the Montreal Canadiens in 1995–96 after three seasons with TPS of the Finnish SM-liiga. Koivu served as the Canadiens' captain for ten of his 14 years with the club, which makes him the longest captaincy tenure in team history, tied with Jean Béliveau. Koivu was the first European player to captain the Montreal Canadiens...
NationalityFinnish
ProfessionHockey Player
Date of Birth23 November 1974
CityTurku, Finland
CountryFinland
I always knew where I was going eventually, so it helped me to stay at home for three years, ... It helped me to develop my game. But it also helped me off the ice. Life here is way different, and I was able to get older.
There are a lot of good things going on here. We're not getting away from our game plan, and we're getting the bounces and the breaks.
I think the positive is that everything is in our hands. I know we've played well for the last 15 or 20 games, but we need to win that last game and secure a spot.
I think the positive is that everything is in our hands.
I thought Perezhogin played really strong, he scored his second goal, he's been a real surprise. We knew he had offensive talent but the way he worked for the puck in the corners was impressive.
It goes way, way back when we were under Sweden's rule. We always think they are better than us. We played against them so often for so many years. Every country has one opponent they want to beat and for us, it's Sweden.
I was lucky that it hit my shaft, and then my helmet, and I was lucky enough to get that breakaway.
He's been tremendous for us. We never even thought that he could be near as good as he's been. He's a big part of the reason we're in the playoffs right now. For us to be as successful, we need him.
He's a strong man, tough to maintain down low.
Whatever the reason is, I hope we can finish talking about the Olympics. It's gone, it's behind us. The schedule wasn't proper for players who went there and there is some fatigue in a lot guys' play right now.
I think for Finns, it's probably, maybe, the biggest game ever. Not just that we're playing in the gold-medal game in the Olympics, but we all know the importance of playing against Sweden.
You know it's going to be a great atmosphere, the fans are going to be really crazy, there's no doubt about that. Hopefully we can get that energy there that we need, but sometimes there's a chance that you want to do too much so I think we've got to still realize there's a long way to go and what we're doing right now well, to keep doing those things and then just go and fight for a win.
We just didn't show up in the first period,
We can't afford to go lose two, three in a row. We've got to keep climbing and getting wins.