Kristian Kuusela, who turns 40, talks about his career

When you add up all the competitive ice hockey matches Kristian Kuusela played as a professional, the sum exceeds 1,500.

– That’s quite a lot. You have to enjoy the life of a hockey player every day, when there are more games behind than ahead.

The career of the SM league legend, who turns 40 on Sunday, has been amazing, especially in terms of avoiding injuries.

– Knock on wood: I have never been operated on, Kuusela reveals.

This fact underlines that Kuusela is a man of steel for a good reason. During his professional career, which lasted just under 21 seasons, he has practically avoided major injuries in particular.

Kuusela can only remember one longer injury. He had to miss the spring 2021 playoffs due to a knee injury sustained in the last match of the regular season.

– It’s probably the biggest injury of my career. One slightly worse Taklaus came in the first years of Tappara. I must be grateful that I have been able to play this long.

Kuusela admits that he was lucky, but that alone does not explain the durability.

– With age, you have to do things with your body. Waking up after games these days is often not very nice when it hurts in places.

Strict word about the tackling game

Taking care of yourself on the rink has also contributed to the realization of a long career.

– You have to be awake all the time and know what is happening. You can’t put yourself in danger at any point, Kuusela knows.

Kuusela has a strong message for young players. It’s easy to get a puck career too young if your self-preservation instincts aren’t in order.

– I don’t want to generalize, but receiving tackles and playing close to the wing should be at a better level. You can’t go there limp.

– You can’t just admire the passes, you have to be strong and alert all the time, Kuusela reminds.

Kuusela also points out that when a player makes a decision to tackle, there is usually no time to undo it. All the more reason that the person being tackled also has their responsibility.

– At these speeds, you can no longer apply the brakes. From a young age, you have to learn to accept tackles and be alert on the field.

Hard school for a young boy

The appreciation of Kuusela’s huge number of matches is also enhanced by the fact that he was not a junior star and the starting points were not particularly favorable either.

His puck career began in Seinäjoki, which is not really known as a puck town.

– Seinäjoki still had good conditions. You could always get on the ice when you wanted.

Alongside ice hockey, Kuusela also played football, but in the end the magic of the puck attracted him. The dreams were quite moderate.

– I thought that if I could play one SC league game someday, that would be a great thing.

Because of that goal, Kuusela had to head from Seinäjoki to a new environment, i.e. Tampere.

– I knew that I had to leave Seinäjoki if I wanted to become a league player. It appeared that you could try a few trainings in Tappara and see if the level is enough.

The level was enough, and Kuusela played through Tappara’s junior pipeline between 1997 and 2002. However, there was no league debut in kirvesbrinto.

– There were such tough teams in Tappara at the time that the chances of breaking through were not very good.

The opportunity for a league place opened up in Ässi in 2002, when Kuusela was 19 years old. That was the beginning of a professional career of more than 20 years.

– Jari Korpisalo, Pasi Peltonen, Pasi Tuominen – they taught me from the first year for the league. The young boy got a tough schooling, but that’s how it should be.

– Back then, as a young player, you didn’t just walk into the booth of the league team like that. They explained how to enter the SM league. If I hadn’t gone to that hard school, maybe I wouldn’t have played for so long, Kuusela reflects.

Crazy spring

Kuusela’s breakthrough happened in Ässie’s memorable season 2005–06, which ended with a finals high in Pori.

– The attitude, the will and the people from Pori going along with it brought such a hype that we were able to push more gas.

– We had mohawks, and even in the city, almost nine out of ten were greeted in mohawks, Kuusela recalls.

At that time, Kuusela was still a pure Sniper in his playing style and scored the most goals from Äss in both the regular season and the playoffs.

– I got an opportunity Marko Kivenmäki and Aki Uusikartano with. It all got together and he just let it go.

As a single moment, Kuusela remembers the quarter-final match against Tappara in Pori, after winning which Ässät advanced to the semi-finals.

– There has never been such an uproar anywhere else in my career. My ears stopped when that game ended.

Kuusela continued in Ässi in the following season, but moved to Sweden in the spring to Modo’s team.

– The same Tuominen Pasi had played in Modo the same year but then left for Switzerland. I chatted with him and got a good feeling that it would be nice to try.

Kuusela got to play in the finals again, and in the end he became the big hero of the puck town Örnsköldsvik.

Kuusela decided the fifth final in overtime and in the decisive sixth final he scored the winning goal, with which Modo won the Swedish championship.

– One of the top players got injured before the playoffs, and I got to play in good chains. Places were arranged for me and goals came.

Diversification

After the golden spring in Sweden, Kuusela moved to Kärpp, where he immediately won the first Finnish championship of his career in the spring of 2008.

The striker was approaching the best playing years of his career, but his results gradually declined.

– The next season (2008–09) was still good when I played Jari Viuhkolan and Toni Koivisto with the whole season really well.

The last two seasons in Oulu at the turn of the decade were indeed difficult for both the success-saturated club and Kuusela himself.

– Personally, I couldn’t play at the level I wanted. However, that time had to be the so-called “prime” for me, when the best age of many players is 27–30.

A new lift was found in Espoo, where he worked as the Blues’ head coach Lauri Marjamäki extended a helping hand to Kuusela.

– I told Late that what I can do has disappeared a bit. Late then pushed me forward in Espoo and gave me a role and confidence.

– I found the tools again, how I can play better. Maybe I became a little different as a player as well, Kuusela praises.

As stated, young Kuusela was a pure sniper. Now Kuusela has long been known for its versatility. At what point did a rather big change take place?

– It probably came already in Oulu, when they practiced really hard there. With age, however, I started to understand more of the whole in hockey.

– It could no longer be a “one trick thing”. However, I wasn’t that good at one thing, so I had to find new ways to move my career forward.

For more than ten years, Kuusela has become known as a trustworthy player who does not shirk his defensive duties.

– Holistic playing has become an important value for me, Kuusela states.

From disappointment to victory

After an 11-year tour, Kuusela returned to Tappara in 2013, where he has played since then, except for one KHL gig.

– It had always been my dream that I could play in the SM league in Tappara. The timing was good when the interests of both met.

At that time, Tappara had risen back to the top of the SM league after difficult years, and Kuusela himself had returned to the top level.

The first two seasons offered tough times, as both times Kärpät celebrated the championship after an overtime goal in the seventh final match.

– They were certainly the heaviest losses of my career. In overtime, the matter ends completely at the wall.

– Jukka of Peltola has said that the worst thing is to have to wait 12 months for a new opportunity, Kuusela says.

In the spring of 2016, however, Tappara had a weapon, which was not the case in the previous two years: Patrick Laine.

– He brought an extra on top of that. His ten playoff goals were one of the missing pieces that allowed us to become champions.

That spring, especially the semi-final series against Kärppi gave a decisive boost towards the championship. Tappara managed to defeat Kärpä in the seventh match.

– It was a huge mental boost. Now nothing can stop us.

– Final defeats hardened us so much that winning the championship was even sweeter, Kuusela smiles.

Tappara legend

After the second SM gold in his career, Kuusela went abroad for the second time in his career. The address was Khabarovsk in the far east of Russia.

– Of course, you couldn’t get very close, you had to go to the farthest place, Kuusela laughs.

Kuusela’s decision to leave was made easier by the goalkeeper who played in the team Juha Metsolawho had spent time in Khabarovsk.

– Khabarovsk was a great city and western. I had a good time myself, but traveling was something quite utopia.

– After that, I’ve said here that I don’t complain at all about traveling anymore, Kuusela says.

Kuusela returned to Tappara during the same season, which ended with the second consecutive Finnish championship.

Kuusela also served as captain in Tappara in 2018–20, which developed him even more at an even older age.

– The captain has to do a lot of work with the team and sense the atmosphere of the team every day. I learned a lot about myself mentally and how to move the team forward on a mental level.

The third championship in Tappara came last spring, and in total there have been more than 700 matches in kirversinto, including the playoffs.

Meriits are of such a class that the suspension of the game number is probably certain, but will the glorious career continue after this season?

– There are still a lot of games left here. Let’s play them first and then think. Hockey still tastes good and I still enjoy playing, so why not.