Two shirt freezes are seen in Pori.
Pekka Rautakallio played and coached for a long time in Ässi. Janne Nousiainen
The SM league team Porin Ässät revealed the festive news during the first break of the series opener.
Aces plans to freeze club legends Pekka Rautakallion70, and Kari Makkonen68, jerseys early next year.
Rautakallio’s fifth shirt will go up on the roof of the hall on January 27 before the start of Satakunta’s local match.
The defender made history at the very beginning of his career by scoring a major league goal at the age of 15 years, seven months and seven days. He played 286 matches in the jersey (powers 119+115) and won two Finnish championships and one SM silver.
He was chosen three times as the best defender in the SM series. In his career, Mies also represented Helsinki IFK, where he wore the captain’s letter C. Rautakallio also represented Finland in the national team as a captain.
In the NHL, Rautakallio played 235 games, first in the Atlanta Flames and then in the Calgary Flames.
Still, the jersey of the Pori hockey club fit the man best.
– Freezing my jersey evokes really great and positive feelings. There are many great teammates on the roof and it is a huge honor to be part of their group, says the club legend in the bulletin.
– Pori’s Ässie team is the best team I’ve ever played for. In the team of that era, the patriotism was manifested in a great way.
After his playing career, Rautakallio coached in the SM League, the Swiss Premier League and the KHL. He last coached in the 2015–2016 season in Ässi.
Makkonen stayed in Ässi
Kari Makkonen (right) coached in Tappara for six seasons. On the left side of the picture taken in 2005 is the then head coach Jukka Rautakorpi. VELI-MATTI PARKKINEN
Striker Kari Makkonen’s jersey (number 22) will be frozen on February 2 before the Tappara match.
In the main series, Makkonen represented only Ässi. The man from Harjavalta, known as a power forward, remained in the team even at the division level and was bringing Ässäs back to the main league in 1990.
He won one Finnish championship, silver and bronze in Ässi.
– This is an honor that means a lot to me. Not many people have received a similar honor at Ässi and I will be among some really tough names, says Makkonen.
– Certainly the freezing itself will be an event that I will never forget. I played in Finland my entire professional career and this really evokes a lot of emotions.
Makkonen tried out the NHL. The 1979-1980 season in Edmonton, which included nine games, ended up being the only one of his career with bucks.
The Finnish Ice Hockey Museum has ennobled Makkonen as the Finnish Ice Hockey Lion with the number 99. The man accumulated nine championships.
Like Rautakorvin, Makkonen tried his wings as a coach. At the turn of the millennium, he was in Tappara as an assistant coach. Makkonen also spent a couple of seasons as head coach in Mestis.