“Yes, Göran was angry with us”

“Hexi” has developed into a terrier defender at HIFK, who is not afraid of the devil himself. From time to time, he tackles and knocks down people bigger than him so violently that it’s terrifying.

A classic book from 1971 aimed at children and young people Hockey racket presented along with training instructions and other versatile content in personal photos Kolme koua lijonaa or Heikki Riihiranna, Veli-Pekka Ketolan and Jorma Valtonen.

At that time, Riihiranta was only a little over 20 years old, but already a two-time Finnish champion.

– I remember that book, and it was my style of play, he signs the colorfully written definition.

– For me, defending and playing as a man was the most important thing. It was based on that kind of swagger.

Medal close

In Leijon, Riihiranta played, among other things, four World Cups.

He would have accumulated even more if he hadn’t missed the spring 1971 World Cup tournament because of his graduation papers – and if he hadn’t played for the Winnipeg Jets in 1974-77 as a Finnish North American pioneer together with Ketola.

A World Cup medal was still a distant dream for Finland. Riihiranta was saddened by the fact that “nothing was won” from his national team career.

– But my own games in 1974 was a big deal, he recalls the World Cup tournament in Helsinki, where the goalkeeper’s hopes for the first medal collapsed by Stig Wetzell to the doping cart.

In 2003, the Ice Hockey Federation cleared the reputation of Wetzell, who was completely innocent in the incident, by ennobling him as the Finnish Ice Hockey Lion.

– It was great to play in the home games, and the feeling in the team was good. However, it was not quite the same as it is today, when everyone is looking for gold. It was not possible then, when the Russians were so superior. The Czechs and Sweden were also tough.

WHA Championship

In Winnipeg, Riihiranta and Ketola got to celebrate the jackpot when the Jets won the Avco Trophy, the 1976 championship of the WHA, which was established as a rival league to the NHL.

– We had a really tough team. We wouldn’t have won the Stanley Cup, but we won all the practice games against NHL teams, Riihiranta reminds.

– We had top players from Sweden and locals Bobby from Hull since. Even then, we played today’s hockey, which was based on good passing. We didn’t have any fighters. The brawler didn’t come until after Hull’s wig was torn off his head, but we had already left by then.

– I really liked playing there, but I didn’t use my option. That coaching game in the last year was enough for me, says Riihiranta.

Jets management and head coach Bobby Kromm Tired of bouncing, Riihiranta returned to Finland in 1977 and to HIFK, whose captain he played for the rest of his career.

– I also wanted to start a family in Finland. There were offers from Europe, but I wasn’t interested in them. Six years ago I was still playing for HIFK, Riihiranta sums up.

HIFK celebration

Riihiranta, who moved to HIFK from Karhu-Kissa in 1967, won five Finnish championships with the team.

– In the first season, it was good that we stayed in the series. Next came Carl Brewerhe refers to the world-class Canadian reinforcement who served as HIFK’s player coach in the 1968–69 season.

– We won the championship right away, and we also won the following year.

More gold came in 1974, 1980 and at the end of the “Stadium finals” played against the Jokers in 1983.

It also ended the three club legends Riihiranna, Matti Murron and Wetzell’s playing career.

– It was decided with “Murts” that this is the last season. Both had places so scattered. It’s great that it ended with a championship.

Stubb’s taping

Riihiranta formed a radar pair with his long-time friend and playmate Murro, which happened and happened.

The Velikullas were on the rise, for example, in the 1972–73 season, when HIFK boss Goran Stubb A 4-year-old boy was regularly in the team’s locker room.

The future prime minister and the coalition’s presidential candidate Alexander “Tico” Stubbs wasn’t content to just amaze the adults, but bullied his bigger ones as best he could. Sometimes he stole the players’ equipment and threw it around the locker room.

– He was quite a wild boy. Once with Murts, they grabbed it, took it to the shower room and taped it to a chair, Hexi says.

– Yes, Göran was angry with us that what are you doing like that. I guess we said that yes, you should take better care of your son, he packed a radar pair of tricks – or goofs.

Howe’s knockdown

A helmet on the back of the head and a strap over the chin was Riihiranta’s trademark in the rink.

However, in his first year in the WHA, he played without a helmet in the North American fashion.

– We played in Houston, and I went to tackle Gordie Howe. When I left it, it hit me on the head with a club. I got a few stitches.

The tackle was clean, and neither was Howe — “Mr. For hockey” – whistled cool.

– It was skilled at these and knew how to defend itself well.

In the mid-1970s, North American hockey was violent. There were a lot of fights.

– It was like the wild west, Riihiranta describes.

– There were a lot of players of different levels. There were top players like Howe and his son, but the Birmingham Bulls, for example, were full of brawlers.

Riihiranta and Ketola didn’t go looking for fights, but they didn’t run away from them either.

– It was much better to play as well as you could and defend when there is a place.

Gold in Globen

The younger generations who followed Finnish hockey remember Riihiranna best as the national team’s long-term team leader, during which the Lions reached the top three in the Canada Cup for the first time (1991), won their first World Cup medal (1992) and their first World Cup gold (1995).

There were other medals in Riihiranta’s lion boss years 1991–2003, but the historic world championship in Globen -95 was a unique achievement.

– When as a player I had experienced those bitter defeats and on the other hand also won for the first time in the Soviet Izvestija tournament in 1971, all those things came to mind, Hexi says about the storm of emotions brought by the championship.

– It really moved me a lot.

Expiration near

In the fall of 2014, Riihiranta had a heart attack at five in the morning at his home in Espoo’s Tapiola, and later that morning another one while undergoing contrast imaging at Jorvi Hospital. Acute ball enlargement surgery saved the life of the puck legend.

– I am relatively in good shape, Riihiranta characterizes his current state of health.

– In connection with my heart problem, I take medicine every morning. I haven’t been able to run for 15 years because of my back, but I walk and go to the weight room.

Riihiranta also has a sandbag in its garage.

– It gets hacked from time to time. Luckily it doesn’t backfire, he laughs.

No gold pressure

Riihiranta still follows ice hockey closely, and he regularly attends HIFK’s home matches.

– It hasn’t started very well, he says of the team that is only in ninth place in the league standings, which was the biggest championship favorite in many papers during the season.

– Leo Komarov the injury was a bad setback. He is an incendiary player, whose absence has probably affected the team a little mentally.

– Although the team has dominated the games, it has not scored enough goals. Scoring is one thing, but you should also play better. Perhaps such a certain unity is still missing. It takes time for everything to start working.

Riihiranta does not announce that there will be gold.

– It is too early to talk about anything like that. It just becomes a lot of pressure. We have a team that can win, but we’ll see how the season goes.