"Simply Niämine" by Vesa Rantanen, IS SM-LIIGA Magazine, Ilta-Sanomat corporation
Oct. 2004
Translation : Bertrand Callens


Ville Nieminen, 27, knows how to use his brain.
Parked in the yard of an apartment of Tampere, a big angular 4 wheel-drive Hummer, nearly the size of the house, catches the eye; there is a long scratch on the side of the car.

"The guy who did that, he was probably frustrated because he could not get a girl at the bar", Nieminen sighs, as he climbs on his impressive vehicle.

"The scratch was done the first night I got the car. Shit."

There is the same angularity and impressiveness with Nieminen himself. He was not spared from being scratched either. Neither physically nor mentally.

"Obstinacy is Ville's ruling characteristic. Never give up, and maybe I can say, always think you are right", says his girlfriend Kaisa Nurmi.

Seven years ago, Nieminen left a life full of whining, leaving Tampere for North-America, while if the lock-out started, he would go back to Tappara in SM-Liiga.

Nieminen's departure was so surprising, that it was not approved at all. The scandal came from these sponsors, this crazy NHL team which was ready to pay something for Nieminen's ignorance, which, according to several experts, is not what makes a good hockey player.

"When you drive a rusty Ford Escort with an empty tank, it is tough to say no when someone offers you 300.000 US dollars" Nieminen said during the summer 1997, when his surprising contract with Colorado Avalanche was released.

2.7 millions finnish marks, in the worst case. A quite good contract, for somebody who played only 1 minute and 34 seconds with the finnish national team.

So when the big-mouthed player from Tampere was stuck three and a half seasons in the farm team of Hershey, some people laughed about him.

"I could have gone back to Finland."

"I could, but I have not", Nieminen said after his third season in a farm team.

He did come back, with the Stanley Cup, during summer 2001. And today he comes back again, key-player in Calgary, small canadian team which just finished sensational Stanley Cup Finals last spring.

Simply Ville, Niämine.

Many things have changed, but at the same time very few things have changed during these seven years. The same Nieminen - or simply Ville, Niämine - drives a car, but the aura of the man on the people around him has increased. Maybe because of his car, too.

For Nieminen, all these words that he said are heavy to carry, while several times, finnish public and experts criticized his art of the game, and while several other finnish NHL stars packed their bags and came back to North-America, running away from taxes or expensive insurance premiums, waiting for the NHL to start quickly.

"I want to play"

Nieminen can always be blamed for his long speaches or his special type of play, but he can never be blamed for giving up.

And he can't also be blamed for not loving hockey. Several summers ago, he slipped in his sauna, at home, and he went through a glass door. Over 50 stitches were needed to heal the injury. Scared, Nieminen called Kaisa for help. His girlfriend was ready for the worse.

Ville was sitting in a pool of blood and looking at his wrist, in which had been incrustated pieces of glass measuring few centimeters, then he fainted. Later, Ville said that looking at his wrist made him think that "I will never play hockey again", Kaisa remembers.

"What would I be without hockey ?" asks Nieminen.

The answer could be: ragged childhood in the steps of his alcoholic father and cheerless future in an industrial kitchen, from which he received a diploma at the Tampere vocational school.

Kipru (goalie Miikka Kiprusoff) always says that Ville can do the cooking, but only for 300 persons.

The Hummer heads to the Vammala Lakeside Golf, where Ville's friend and former Tampere player Kari Lahtinen is playing, at a golf tournament.

The phone rings uninterruptly. The Finnish hockey federation is calling. It is the morning of the departure to the USA, finger-prints must be given for his visa for the World Cup.

"Yes", Nieminen stretches to the phone.

"Yes, yes. Or 13:30. Ok, this is fine". It didn't stop all day long, he says good-bye and puts the handset back on the huge central console, on which a full chinese family could lay.

Then calls headcoach Raimo Summanen; he manages the World Cup's trainig camp.

"Yep. I'm in a good shape. I took a few days off, while places were crowded, I was feeling my skating was a bit stiff" Nieminen says and puts the phone down.

Then he tries to analyze practices in Finland with Tappara. And finnish hockey in general, where there is no more star players.

"The problem with finnish hockey.. Well, we want to win, but more important than wishing to win, you must be ready to do what needs to be done to get the win"

Ready to do what needs to be done ? Now the expert talks. Nieminen, better than anybody else, has built his career on models.

"Are you ready to leave your own ego on the parking lot, when you enter the arena ?" asks Nieminen.

Playing is low emotion, but this is the problem with the system. When you practice 14 times a week, there is no more fun when blowing hot air on the curve of sticks.

Without transition, Nieminen leaves his role of suffering boy. He does not want his story to kill the Hollywood film.

"Happy people have no story", he laughs, with a large smile on his face.

Again, it is all about hockey at Marja-Liisa Nieminen's 50-year anniversary, at Irjala storehouse, on Feb. 20, 1999. A great speech is made to the kids:

"Several years ago, a baby boy was born, and today again there are people with us, who said to daddy Eetu a few minutes after the birth: number two, right wing, two minutes of penalty for roughing."

An elder sister

Mari was born four years earlier in the family, in which there were two main things: hockey and Eetu's problems with alcohol.

"Eetu was a sensitive and fragile person, for who the family was everything", Liisa says.

Life had not been easy, it educated Ville.

For Ville Nieminen, it is useless to bury the bitterness. He is gratefull.

"He probably did not deserve a gold medal, but for me, he was a great dad", he says.

Former SM-Liiga hockeyplayer Esa "Eetu" Nieminen died at 53, drunk, falling in his leather shop, head first into his machines. Ville learned the news in the morning in Hershey. He took the plane to the funerals on friday and prepared the coffin for Eetu's last trip, with a picture of him and his dad taken in Pittsburgh during summer 1997.

When Ville had started his way to professional hockey, at St-John 1997, Eetu's clock was starting its last cycle.

The following Fall, Eeto took the plane to Hershey and saw Ville playing his first pro game in North America. Alcohol had already started to crush Eetu's health.

"Right after, Eetu started to give in. He saw that Ville was doing ok, the work of his life was done", Liisa remembers.

Eetu started to prepare his departure. He put the cottage back in shape, made ten birds nests and prepared wood for the sauna. Everything was ready when the hard-working man died, falling asleep accidentally in April 1998, 20 months before Ville started in the NHL.

"Thanks a lot to my best coach for all these good times shared together", Ville wrote on the funeral book, on April 20, 1998.

"Mystery. Dads are always mystery. I wish I had known him more. You never know well enough your dad", Niemien says.

I would call him almost every day to ask him something.

Hockey in the guts.

Young Ville didn't need to ask. Eetu had taken his boy everywhere with him. On the road, together at the rink, at the market, selling leather articles he had done with his agile hands.

"I'm still using a hockey bag that my dad had done", Ville says.

Side by side with his father, Ville built a stable relationship with hockey. Not only hockey would become part of Ville, but ville would also become part of hockey.

In addition to his craftman job, Eetu helped Ville to be a player. Sometimes harsh, sometimes enthousiastic, but every time based on the love of his son and of the game.

"From the beginning, Eetu tried to make Ville an individual player.For instance, sharing the puck, giving assistance was forbidden", Tappara veteran equipment manager Jarmo Männisto remembers.

Another lesson was that even he didn't score goals, he had to play in such a way that his name would stay in people minds. Nieminen did not become an individual player, but a merciless and colorful warrior. A colorful player who would never loose the taste of hockey.

"Maybe I've been shaken a little bit, but never to much. Enthousiasm is never gone away, because I have no alternative than to have fun. Stimulating, shouting, being a pain, all this is ok for me. Everything in hockey is ok for me."

"I am not going to change one day."

Nieminen wanted to know everything about hockey. As a Junior already, he had hockey in the guts. Talkative with the Junior coach, the terrible player was obstinate and knew everything better than anyone else.

"Sometimes some people tried to tell me that Ville needed more discipline. I answered this was not my role, there were people for this, I was just taking care of the house", mother Liisa says.

Ville needed authority, an authority that he would respect.

Nieminen agrees that things would had been much easier if he had stayed all alone in the back of the classroom.

"I was not an easy person to live with. I had opinions about everything."

"We could probably be blamed for that", said ironically Tappara's former coach Rauno Korpi.

Since he was young until he was an adult, Ville absorbed everything that was around him.

Three years, not in vain.

Harrisburg, Saturday August 8, 1997:

First problem: the language. Hotel sold-out. Need to make several phone calls. Speaking in the phone in a different language is really difficult, there is lots of coins, lots of digits to dial, operator asks for impossible things. It was tough to go to the hotel room, in the eastern wing of the building, at the fifth and last floor. Finally ready to sleep.

This way, Nieminen, who did not speak a word of english, ended up in his first North-American training camp. Tappara's coach Rauno Korpi had a violent discussion with Nieminen, when the young player notified him of his departure.

"As a player, Ville was still immature. I wish I could have kept him in Tappara. But like for the man of the Camel advertisement, Ville was obstinate", Korpi remembers.

"Lots of people thought it was not fair that Nieminen left the place for a bunch of dollars, while having shown so little things on the ice."

A harsh school was waiting for him in Hershey. The president's position was held by authoritary Bob Hartley.

"Everything was so different. Ville received quite a lot of shit. He was a new player, he was european on top of that, and the language was a problem. Ville walked everywhere with his dictionnary under his arm", remembers Kaisa, who was only 17 when she left with Ville.

Over three years were spent in the 18.000 inhabitants farm-city. In Tampere, Nieminen was very criticized. The "big mouth" was stuck there, earning millions. Only the 2001 Stanley Cup calmed down the critics. But how did Nieminen manage it ? Over three years in this rat's hole.

September 1, 1997:

All restaurants are still closed. Got a sandwich from Subway, and again I had no idea what dressing they would put. Yes, yes. Meeting starts at 9:00, I received money for the food and they gave me a check. I did not dare looking at it when I was in the room. 105000 US dollars equals 575000 Finnish Marks. It's lots of money, I felt dizzy.

"I didn't go there to play instantly in the NHL", remembers Nieminen, with a bit of anger.

Leaving had to be an evidence. Yes, I am going to learn, over there. This is where my hockey came from.

Nieminen bowed his back and did his part of the job. He did not came back to Tampere when Hartley called him a communist. He did not give up, when Hartley wanted his young girlfriend to go back home, arguing that Ville could move somewhere else, staying as a paying guest and learning english. He learnt english using other ways.

We are far away from breakfast in mum's kitchen, with three liters of hot cocoa on the table, circular glasses on the nose and and an apple donut waiting for you. After this, you can't have big expectations.

I have never been sad in Hershey. It just depends on how you take it, shit. I can't come and ask everything for free, like this. Would I deserve playing in the NHL if I hadn't spend these three years in Hershey ? No way." says Nieminen, getting upset.

Nieminen was ok with being sent to this lonely farm team . Over 1300 hours spend in the team's bus had taught him how important this was.

"I learned to respect the NHL. I would have missed lots of things if I hadn't spent all this time in Hershey. Otherwise, I would have been cocky. I tried to stay humble. It is either like this or not like this.

6.9.1997:

Homesickness became almost unbareable. I was stuck there for three years. My mind went better when I learned that my girlfriend would come on the 26th. As I don't speak a word of english, it is tough. But dreams and (maybe) success always help. Despite my homesickness, on the ice, I felt like at home.

First week of lessons: I did not know where I would play or live, today in the farm team, tomorrow in Colorado or on the road. I had to have my dictionnary with me almost everywhere. That is tough. I did not had time to sit down.

A child star

In all the scrapbooks kept with affection by mother Liisa - there is 10 of them, and there is more to come, when there will be some time to cut and glue what is in this box, of last season, in Calgary -, stands a young boy, who has a big jaw and circular glasses.

And there is a hockey bag, a hockey stick in the hand or hanging whatever type of medal. And the mouth is grinning. Always.

First team, Tappara G-Buffalo. First game, first jersey, first numbers. Second season and already Captain. Years and games fly in a precise order. Tappara - Järvenpää Hawks, 17-0. Ville, 7 years old, scored 7 goals.

"Ville was somekind of a child star. His father had taught all the tricks one or two years before others, sitting on the sofa of the 3-room appartment", Liisa says.

Nieminen started to play at the age of 4 or 5, immediatly with older players.

We can see from a Super8 film, how he felt down on the ice six times in 30 seconds, during line changes. Referees would put him back on his feet on the ice - and off the ice. No need to have power-play time to ask questions.

Hervanna rink. Junior-C game is over. Tappara - Kiekko-Reipas 6-0. Brave Ville skates to get the prize for the MVP of the game: a bag of potato chips. During the final ceremony, on the red line,
the captain of the defeated team follows the young boy. On his back, we can read "LYDMAN".

Then we talk about Ville. Skilfull player, who also wears ugly circular glasses, Toni Lydman, current teamate both in Calgary and in the national team, talks:

"I saw on the outdoor rink that he was quite skillful". Ville learned how to skate before learning how to walk. Daddy-Eetu's hands had been probably there.

Learning from older players

Nieminen got experienced in hockey very early. He spent the majority of his childhood in the Tampere's Hakametsä Arena, helping the equipment manager, following the league's players, whenever he had some time.

"Ville had already at this time an exceptional knowledge of hockey", says amazed Jarmo Männistö.

Rauno Korpi himself asked to Ville's school on November 15, 1990 "some free time from 14:00 to 15:00, where he could help Tappara's equipment manager in the JYP-Tappara game in Jyväskylä."

At this time, Eetu was probably wandering.

"For five months, he would be fine, and then, he would be drunk for one full month. We always said in this case that he was in the Bahamas."

These were not really holidays on the beach. 

Hockey experts would then look after him in the bars and take him either back home or to the hospital.

"You should try to be drunk for a full month, it is really tough. They tried to take Eetu with them, to take him away from alcohol. We will never be able to say enough thank you to these guys, for what they have done for him."

Nieminen says that he could not stand his father anymore, when a bottle was opened. Eetu was not aggressive, but as Liisa says, "when time goes on, we think things were nicer".

"You could see in Ville's eyes when Eetu was in the Bahamas", Männistö remembers when he talks about his little assistant.

"Ville probably suffered one way or the other about the relationship he had with hid dad, but like for others who have seen their father died from alcohol, he never showed his anger", Korpi says.

The arena was probably some kind of shelter for Ville.

Everything from the team

18.9.97: Practice Colorado-St. Louis. The game ended 5-5.

The coach asked me to go in his office. He said: "We are happy of what you do. You are a good acquisition, everybody likes you because you are a happy and positive person, but we must send you back to farm so that you can learn more". I had tears in my eyes, and my dreams flew away. I knew there would be some dissapointments, and that would give me more strenght. Three more years to go.

Nieminen moved up to Colorado Stanley Cup's roster - in Spring 2001. He found a spot on the Peter Forsberg and Chris Drury's line. The following year, everything looked great, but everything turned out bad. Nieminen was traded to Pittsburgh, "from Tampere to Pori", like he said at this time.

The Pittsburgh days were cheerless. Bad organisation, losses after losses.

My life was totally based on the success of the team. Two points from a game was like scoring goals for me.

In Chicago everything should have changed. It did not. Short ice-time, bad organisation. Nieminen started to hesitate.

"For the first time, Ville started to say that maybe it was because of his way of playing, did he know how to enjoy the game ?", Kaisa remembers.

Nieminen started to run from the hockey world. At the same time, he started to loose his sense of humor. At home appeared an unmotivated player. You would not believe that it was the same man, who taught to 2.5 year-old Viljami, how to take leave from a guest.

"Yeah, I'll call you back, see ya, give me five", Viljami says good-bye to his guests.

Then came the transfer to Calgary, where Nieminen shined again.

Hershey 22.9.1997:

And again came a lesson: on the ice the play was rough, and I stay on the side of the rink and the ice is bad, but who cares ? Here, you don't get anything for free. Here, there is no need to say you are sorry. Take one day at a time. You never get anything, if you don't try anything.

This week started the Hershey Bears training camp. The season start at the beginning of October. The mind is good. The girlfriend comes this week. Finally, go away from the hotel to live a normal life. Of course, learning english would have been a good thing. English skills developped stronlgy during the season; it was necessary. Time goes, day after day, I feel more intelligent.. strange feeling.

A big picture

24 hours to go before the World cup. Nieminen just learned that he would not play during the opening game.

"No need to worry if I am not part of the roster; today, Viljami skates for the first time in his life". Nieminen sends A BIG PICTURE of Viljami on his mobile phone.

Happy people have no story?


In italic, the travel of Ville Nieminen per his roadbook, from his departure in Tampere to his set-up in North-America.