This 30-30-30 thing has proved more challenging than I thought. When it came to the Flames, no one even sparked my interest.
Sure they have a Livonia, Michigan native (David Moss) and they have a Swede from our captain's hometown of Vasteras (Mikael Bucklund) but those aren't really too interesting.
Everyone talks about Jarome Iginla all the time so more random information about him would be fueling the, pardon the pun, "He's so wonderful" flames. Although, most would be surprised to know that he partly owns the Kamloops Blazers with Shane Doan, Mark Recchi, and Darryl Sydor. Talk about strange bedfellows.
So I'm going to do the most mature thing that I could think of and choose the Flames' player responsibly:
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe,
Catch the tiger by the toe.
If it hollers let him go,
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe!
You are it Olli Jokinen!
I'm always looking for obscure connections to Michigan or the Red Wings. Olli Jokinen has a couple connections to both.
Olli is familiar with the Eaves family. Why? Patrick Eaves' dad, Mike Eaves, coached Olli while playing for the HIFK during the 1996-97 season. The next year, Mike Eaves would leave the HIFK for Pittsburgh and Olli would get a future Red Wing and a future record breaking Michigander as teammates.
During the 1997-98 season, Jokinen played along side of many future NHLers. Niklas Backstrom. Niklas Hagman. Bob Halkidis. Jarkko Ruutu. Kimmo Timonen. Interesting that all those future NHL players were on the squad but the two connections that sparked my interest were their goalie that year and a breakout defenseman. The goalie was Flint, Michigan native Tim Thomas. The defenseman? Newly departed Red Wing and Dearborn, Michigan native Brian Rafalski.
I'm not sure how Olli's profile turned into a game of "six degrees of separation" but it's all I have.
Now, let's laugh.
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