Wrapping Up a Wonderful Trip to Finland
Two things in this one. First, please give my latest piece for D Magazine a look. It’s a longer piece (shocker, I know) that takes my trip day by day alongside the Stars. It’s a bit more first-person than I usually do for them, so it was a fun one.
The other thing I wanted to do is to list all of my Finland stories in one place, including a fun little story by the Finnish media I don’t think I’ve really shared yet. So, without further ado, here they all are.
A Comprehensive List of Stories from My Trip to Finland
First, I wrote about arriving in Helsinki, including the most beautiful Zamboni I’ve ever seen and my foolhardy attempt to navigate in Finnish for an evening. That’s here: https://starsthoughts.com/2024/10/29/the-dallas-stars-take-to-helsinki/
Second, a big Finnish magazine apparently got ahold of that story and decided to turn it into their own story. This is probably why I started getting weird looks from some of the Finnish media members later in the week. You can check out this rather embarrassing re-telling here (Google should translate it for you automatically): https://www.is.fi/nhl/art-2000010797653.html
Third, I wrote about my experience at Esa Lindell’s first Jokerit regular-season game after buying into the ownership group. This may have been my favorite story all week. That’s here: https://starsthoughts.com/2024/10/30/esa-lindell-isnt-joking-for-once/
Fourth, here’s some self-indulgent reflecting on a day as a tourist in Helsinki, including saunas, the Baltic Sea, and my guesses about what makes Finland special: https://starsthoughts.com/2024/10/31/on-sisu-the-baltic-sea-and-learning-how-to-fall/
Fifth, I got to talk with Jim Nill about why he thinks the Stars can not only weather the difficulty of an in-season trip like this one, but actually use it to be even better. Always great when I get a chance to talk with Nill, so find that here: https://starsthoughts.com/2024/11/01/these-are-the-things-that-mold-your-team-jim-nill-on-why-the-dallas-stars-can-thrive-on-and-after-an-international-road-trip/
Sixth, here’s Friday’s game story on the Stars’ rather flat showing. Who wouldn’t want to re-live that? It’s here: https://starsthoughts.com/2024/11/01/game-10-afterthoughts-a-damper-in-tampere-as-cats-take-round-one/
Seventh, here’s Saturday’s game story on Tyler Seguin’s injury, and a better-but-not-good-enough showing. This was the same day I got to see the President of the Republic of Finland, for reference: https://starsthoughts.com/2024/11/02/game-11-afterthoughts-suo-for-two-mi-but-oh-my-finland/
Eighth, and by far the most practical: My interview with Mike Donoghue, the head strength and conditioning coach for Dallas. Please take a look at all the measures Dallas goes to in order to take care of its players during intense international travel like this trip. Hopefully you didn’t proceed to ignore all of the jetlag advice on your own travels like I did: https://starsthoughts.com/2024/11/03/inside-the-dallas-stars-comprehensive-plan-to-fight-jetlag-to-and-from-finland/
Ninth and lastly, here is a catch-up with Jussi Jokinen on his transition into broadcasting, and what he takes from a career with nine different NHL team and one special group of Finns in Dallas: https://starsthoughts.com/2024/11/05/jussi-jokinen-is-taking-another-shot/
As always, thanks for reading. If you would like to pay me full-time to do things like this just for you personally, please send me an offer. Thank you.