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
We both should have three or four goals already this series but don't and we have to find a way to do it. As a goal scorer, it's important to get chances and we've got those. We're working hard. We just need one good game where we both get some damage done and get that scoring touch. Even if it goes off your (butt).
This game is a lot about chemistry, and when three guys can find good chemistry, it makes the game so much easier. To play with Paul and Joe, it's going to be a huge pleasure for me.
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.
If it was a playoff game, it would be different, but I have to be smart. I'd rather miss one or two games than two weeks.
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.
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.
All the games he played in the regular season, he did his job well. We have lots of confidence in him, too, and that's a good sign.
We have to do a little better job to shut him down. I don't think we've done a good job against him. We have to make sure he doesn't get so much room.
We showed a lot of pride coming back, especially when we got the bad break in the first period.
The silver medal, it's going to taste better a little later. But right now, it's very disappointing.
I've always looked at it as a big honor to go play for your own country, especially in the Olympics. It's honor to be there, even if it's a tougher season for us. I think in the future, you're going to see that it was great experience again.
We played the way we wanted. We were a little nervous for the first period. After that we had no problems. Everything was under control. That was a good sign.
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.
We played pretty disciplined, even though they tried to frustrate us. It was a pretty solid effort all the way around.