Against all expectations, the paths of former lion heroes Juhamatti Aaltonen and Petri Kontiola meet once again in the final of the SM league. The veija-like guys are the oldest players in the final teams.
When Enter YouTube as a search term Juhamatti Aaltonen name, a video from ten years ago appears as the first search result.
“Aaltonen. Now Aaltonen is on the move again. That’s when a shot…sssssssssssssssss! It decides, it decides the Finnish championship”, the narrator Jani Alkion sound is heard in the background.
It’s April 26th in 2014. Overtime of the seventh final. Aaltonen sinks Tappara and decides the championship for Kärpi.
I will since a moment ten years ago, Aaltonen has not played in the finals. Not the SM league or any other series.
Now he plays in the finals against Tappara in a Pelicans shirt.
Nostalgia is in the air. Aaltonen was no longer supposed to play in the WC finals. In the winter, he was already forgotten somewhere in the Czech and Danish leagues.
But that’s how people’s artist Aaltonen plays again at the pinnacle of the domestic hockey arena at the age of 38.
However, he hasn’t been on YouTube to “treat” and get a download for the final series.
“Hahhah, I’m not. You already got your share of that back then. That was enough. Others remember it more than myself,” says Aaltonen.
Juhamatti Aaltonen’s shot has sunk behind Juha Metsola’s back. Before this Saturday, this moment is the last time Aaltonen played in the SM league finals.
Iin the magician was Oulu’s great hero.
“It’s been ten years, and I was a bit of a different player then. And different men were against it. Tappara doesn’t have the same man anymore. (Pekka) Saravo is in the studio after all. Things have changed a little here along the way.”
Aaltonen really is a different player. In these playoffs, he has shredded the Pelicans’ four chain in a blackout role.
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Tappara doesn’t have the same man anymore. After all, Saravo is in the studio.
“At the time of the previous finals, I was like that high risk, high reward -player. Very attack-oriented.”
“It seems that all the skills and speed were much, much better then. Nowadays, the body doesn’t work nearly the same way. Even if you try to give orders, it just doesn’t work the same way anymore.”
The transformation has been amazing. And Aaltonen has by no means worn out the head of the bench. Ice time has averaged more than 16 minutes in the evening.
“I’m still such a go-getter player.”
“When I had the opportunity to come to the Pelicans in the spring, it was of course clear that I would play a bit of a background role. And there’s nothing to it. It’s been great to play.”
About to start in the final series, puck romance is also on Tappara’s side, where Petri Kontiola39, is preparing for the first league finals of his career.
Both Aaltonen and Kontiola are former lion stars known to the whole nation, and both are looking for a climax to their wonderful careers.
Kontiola and Aaltonen. A legendary duo.
When the veckle-like pair of friends sat in the sauna at Kontiola’s cabin last summer, neither of them could even dream of such a situation.
Kontiola had already finished his career and Aaltonen was leaving to “cool down” in the Czech league.
“I couldn’t even think of yes,” Aaltonen laughs.
“That we would even play against each other in general. Even in the finals.”
At the end of last season, Aaltonen and Kontiola already changed jerseys after the “last” meeting. At that time, the duo’s teams were Jukurit and Ilves.
Aaltonen and Kontiola’s paths have crossed several times during their long careers. They have excelled together in the national team in several prestigious competitions. One season, well over twenty years ago, they spent together in the far east, in Magnitogorsk.
A lot has happened and happened together for the Veija-like duo.
“Very much.”
“You can’t even tell the best things in this interview. They are for other situations”, says Aaltonen.
Kontiola and Aaltonen pictured in Magnitogorsk in the 2010–11 season.
After all, Aaltonen agrees to share his best shared memories with Kontiola about the games.
“Those second home games in 2013 were a pretty great experience. We lost in the semi-finals then, but we did really well in those competitions. Konna was the best player of the tournament. On the other side was Janne Pesonen.”
“The Sochi Olympics was another incredibly great experience, playing together with Konna.”
In the first half of the 2010s, Aaltonen and Kontiola played several prestigious tournaments together in Leijon. A picture from the 2013 World Championships, where the duo sparkled as the spearhead of the Finnish team.
Contrary to all expectations, once again the paths of Aaltonen and Kontiola meet. In the spring of 2024, neither of them will be the sharpest teeth on their team, but they will be the most experienced on their teams.
“After all, this is a great setting. One of them will win, and the other will have a hard time. Konna has not won the Finnish championship, but we strive to not win yet,” says Aaltonen, who is chasing his fourth gold.
“When we take a sauna again this summer, we’ll see who has the Canada cup with them. After all, the other person has to put up with it a bit.”
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The two met in the shirts of their current clubs already at the end of the regular season.
Final matches of the SM league
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The 20.4. Tappara–Pelicans 3–1
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Ma 22.4. at 18:30 Pelicans–Tappara
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The 24.4. at 18:30 Tappara–Pelicans
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Pe 26.4. at 18:30 Pelicans–Tappara
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They are 28.4. at 5 p.m. Tappara–Pelicans (if necessary)
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Ma 29.4. at 18:30 Pelicans–Tappara (if necessary)
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To 2.5. at 18:30 Tappara–Pelicans (if necessary)
Four wins are required for the championship.