Pekka Rautakallio’s record has lasted 45 years – “Rocky” praises its challenger: “Incredibly wise”

Moved from JYP to Ilves at the beginning of the week, accompanied by a lot of commotion Sami Niku threatens Pekka Rautakallion a record that lasted almost half a century.

Niku, who leads the point exchange for defenders, has scored 11+27=38 in 39 matches.

– Niku is an incredibly smart hockey player: technically excellent, good shot, good pass, sees the field well. He really knows how to play hockey, “Rocky” incenses.

Also HIFK’s Luke Martin and KooKoon Charle-Edouard D’Astous are playing such an effective season that, like Niku, they might be able to match Rautakallio’s 45 years as the top statistician with handsome numbers.

– They always say that records are made to be broken, and yes, I believe that too. The only thing I doubt is that no one Wayne Gretzky would break records, Rautakallio tells Iltalehte.

The next level

Playing styles have also developed in the direction that defenders who are competent on the puck are allowed to support attacks with courage. There is even talk of playing without a place to play.

The 70-year-old Rautakallio cites the Colorado superstar as an example Cale Makarinwhich he has visited this season also on site in the NHL.

– Makar is not just a kit. It might be a center, it might be a winger, and accordingly the center or winger takes on the role of a defender. There, discus has been taken to the next level, where the positions change.

The youngest target gun

Rautakallio, who started playing ice hockey in the juniors of Pori’s RU-38, made his debut in the men’s SM series in Ässie’s ranks in the winter of 1969.

He was just 15 years old at the time, the youngest fielder ever at the major league level, and he also became the youngest scorer when he found the back of the net in his first game.

Rautakallio, who was one of the Finnish pioneers of the North American professional series, won three championships in Finland, including the first two in Ässi in 1971 and -78 and the third in HIFK in 1983.

The players crashed

Rautakallio says his championships were memorable.

– The first one was confirmed two or three games before the last games had been played. It was a bit strange, he refers to the series system where there were no playoffs.

The championship series was played in Pori under cloudy skies. DC3 propeller planes rumbled over the runway as they landed on the runway that started less than a kilometer away.

– Sometimes the players had to pick up the hoes and plow the field from water or snow, Rautakallio recalls.

The people of Pori trained in the fall for about a month in Tampere at the Hakametsä hall.

– We had a night shift there, which started at nine or ten in the evening. After training, a quick shower and then an apple, sandwich and Jaffa on the bus. And the next night again.

– The employees of the Tampere hall said that even then we went far harder than any other team.

Huge audience

After the seasons he played in WHA’s Phoenix Roadrunners in 1975–77, Rautakallio returned to his hometown and played a big role in winning Ässie’s next championship, which came in the spring of 1978.

The SM series had changed to the SM league, and now the championship was decided in the playoffs.

In the finals, Ässät defeated Tappara 3–1.

– That season’s team is one of the best in my category, where I have played myself, Rautakallio says.

– There were 5–6 of us in the national team as well.

The decisive fourth final match ended 6–3 for Äss Veli-Pekka Ketolan rotted capacity 2+4.

It was rumored that there were even more than 13,000 spectators in the Isomäki hall, which did not “quite” meet the safety regulations.

– I remember being surprised that the doors were suddenly open. In hindsight, it turned out that there were perhaps a few extra people on site. After the game, the ice was filled from below the time unit as everyone rushed onto the ice.

A record season

In the following two seasons, Ässät also played in the final. Rautakallio was involved in the first of these, when he set the still-valid SM league defenders’ point record of 25+28=53.

It is noteworthy that it was born in only 36 matches.

The years 1979–82 Rautakallio played in the NHL, first with the Atlanta Flames and after the club’s move with the Calgary Flames.

The attacking defenseman scored 154 points in 235 games and was the first Finn to be selected for the NHL’s all-star game.

Coaching career

After his playing career, Rautakallio has had a significant and international career also as a coach.

Abroad, his employers were the Swiss Rapperswil-Jona, SC Bern, ZSC Lions and Ambri-Piotta, as well as the KHL club Riga Dynamo.

In the SM league, Rautakallio has coached both Espoo Blues (1998–99, 2004–05) and Ässi (2009–11, 2014–16) on two occasions.

Series runner-up

At his best, Rautakallio guided the Ässäs to second place in the regular season in the 2010–11 season.

– We previously had a huge number of away losses. That was the first thing that was addressed. Everyone understood that the rink is the same for the guests. The only difference is that we sit for a while on the bus and not on our own corner sofa. After that, away wins started to come as well.

However, Pata was eliminated immediately in the quarterfinals, and the final ranking was fifth.

– When we talk about winning the championship, it doesn’t come suddenly, so to speak, but we prepare for it. Every season you should be able to prepare for the next season, to do it better again. A good example recently has been Tappara. There you will find out what it requires.

Rautakallio’s second start of two years at the helm of Ässie ended with dismissals in February 2016.

– It ended completely incomplete, but I believe that I was able to bring a little bit of my own view of how hockey can and should be played.

“Well trained”

This season, Ässät is fighting in an even middle class in his first season as a head coach in the League Jere Härkälän under.

– I am happy for him. It’s a well-coached team, Rautakallio says.

However, the championship might still be too much for the people of Pori next spring.

– It doesn’t come like luck in an accident, but you have to learn it gradually, he refers to his words about what it takes to win the championship.

However, Pata has given promising glimpses of his striking ability.

Rautakallio brings up an example from last week’s Friday, when the team, away from HIFK, came from behind by three goals to the goal, but still lost 4–5.

– The players were initially physically in Helsinki, but mentally still in Lauttakylä. In the second and third sets, they were already completely in the place, and then the playing was excellent. It was active and creative.

– I take my hat off to the team and the coaching staff for getting it to turn in the right direction. In a year or two, we can already think that we will play in the semi-finals and try to get to the finals, Rautakallio predicts.

– It requires patience and development both game-wise and mentally.

Aces will also freeze the game number 22 of another legendary player, Kari Makkonen, next week. It will happen on Friday, February 2. In connection with the Ässät–Tappara match.