The Kuopio Kid

by Derek Zona on Jun 23, 2009 11:54 AM PDT Comment 2 comments

Jarmo Wasama would have been the first Finnish player in the NHL and maybe the greatest Finnish defensemen of all time if not for the fickle finger of fate. Wasama, a big kid at 6'1" 198 lbs, broke into the SM-liiga at age 17 playing for Ilves. He played six professional seasons for Ilves as well as playing on three World Championship teams and the Finnish Olympic team in 1964. At the time, he was the most talented defender to ever come from Finland -- big and tough, he was a superb skater and stick handler and thought the game extremely well. His teammates thought highly of him and gave him the assistant captaincy at age 21.

On the morning of February 2nd, 1966, he and his father were driving home from practice in dense fog with extremely limited visibility. Wasama was killed instantly when his car collided with a tractor stalled on the side of the road. Wasama was 22 years old. With two SM-Liiga titles and 74 international games under his belt, his international performances received attention in the NHL and he was likely a year away from becoming a Montreal Canadien. Wasama's number two was immediately retired and ten years later, the SM-liiga created the Jarmo Wasama Memorial trophy, awarded to the top rookie in the league each season.

The 2008-2009 winner of the Jarmo Wasama trophy was Teemu Hartikainen, a favorite around here. An in-depth look at the young Finn can be found by clicking the Teemu Hartikainen tag on the bottom right of the page. Hartikainen's rookie season was something of a shock, not because he won the Wasama trophy, but because of the historical context of the numbers he posted. 17 goals and 6 assists in 51 games might not seem like much, but it's the third best 18-year-old season in the last 30 years. Recent winners of the Wasama trophy include NHL players Jani Hurme, Olli Jokinen, Antero Nittymaki, and Oskar Osala, the Capitals prospect that spent the year in the AHL for the Hershey Bears.

After a season like this, expectations are high, and we've talked about the type of season that would be required to vault him into the upper tier of prospects. We've also talked about his shortcomings, namely acceleration and creativity. He's a straight-line bull that plays in the front of the net. He's strong on the puck and strong in high-traffic areas. One area that obviously won't be a problem is off-season training. The picture at the right shows the kid's physique and translating his strength from the SM-liiga to the NHL is a good bet. It seems like there is a good chance he's going to be the one to turn the Moreaus into the Mandelbaums, no?

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Coach, you got a real Hartikain-on for this guy.

Any idea how his linemates produced? Those 6 assists seem a bit troubling and indicate perhaps another weakness other than breaking inertia and creativity.

Any PP time in those stats?

Wish we could see more of him... for example, what's his move off the corner wall like?

Sheesh. That Wasama really looks like he's got the Eye of the Tyger. Both eyes actually. If he hadn't been tragically killed, but instead his hockey career ended, he coulda shoulda beat out Lazenby for the Bond role methinks.

by spOILer on Jun 23, 2009 2:34 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Outstanding stuff, Coach. I have to admit Jarmo Wasama is a new name to me, one I should have known so thanks for filling me in.

His sad tale parallels one I know all too well, that of Butch Paul, whose life spanned the exact same 1943-1966. The Rocky Mountain House native was a great junior with the Edmonton Oil Kings, centring a famous line with Glen Sather and Max Mestinsek that led the squad to the 1963 Memorial Cup. Like Wasama he was still on the outside of the six-team NHL but definitely on the cusp when he died tragically in a car accident.

Pat Quinn was a member of that famous Oil Kings squad. According to Terry Jones, Quinn recently recalled:

"I happened to be on that Memphis team. I don't even think Butch drank.
"He met a family he went to visit and he was driving under the sort of tunnel below a train track when a woman came through the wrong way on the other side and he had nowhere to go. It was a head-on collision and he didn't make it.
"Butch probably would have been the best NHLer of the works of us. He had grit. He was a real competitor.
"He could handle the puck. He could shoot and skate and would go into traffic."

(Trust Jones to end the quote on an ironic note like that, sans comment.)

I saw Butch play for the 1963-64 Oil Kings, and he was a dynamic player to say the least. In those days just before the WCHL (now WHL), the Oil Kings could only find decent competition among teams in the Alberta Senior League. The game I went to was against the Drumheller Miners, and the Oil Kings thumped them convincingly, I believe 4-1. They had lost some of their depth and didn't quite repeat as Memorial Cup champs, but they were still one hell of a team and Butch Paul was a standout and a crowd favourite. Too damn bad that his life got snuffed out so early.

by Bruce on Jun 23, 2009 11:05 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

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