Jarmo Ruutu to entertain the troops?

[jRuutu 2,467]

Around 15 games have been played in the season 91 regular season. For Moscow Menace the start has left a fair amount of room for improvement, which is not unexpected for a young team. Despite the quiet start for the team, on an individual level the players have been making some noise. For example, a rookie center Jarmo Ruutu has dropped the gloves on two occasions already. In the game against Prague, when under one minute of the game was played, Ruutu won a faceoff and a moment later went after Fred Hampton, a fight followed, which Ruutu won by a clear margin. Ruutu got ejected from the game. This stunt made headlines all over the Russian sports media.  Hampton, 6' 8" and 250 lb, looked like a squirrel being pushed around by a butterfly as Ruutu 6' 3" and  213 lb, dominated the fight from the start.  The media was impressed by Ruutu's ability to handle the bigger opponent with such ease.

Ruutu got into another fight with Scotty Sundin when Moscow played against Chicago. Sundin, the 1st overall pick of S83, a Chicago legend, provided a much tighter opponent for Ruutu, the fight ended in a draw. Once again the Russian sports media was impressed. Ruutu going head to head with the leading scorer of VHL, a player never known to be a physical player or a fighter, showed remarkable courage and eye for the occasion as finding a way to take a star player out of the game, even for 5 minutes, is exactly what any team hopes to see.  

Since Ruutu has slowly become some kind of known figure in the Moscow Menace team, and his name is starting to show up in the media more and more, it's perhaps not a surprise that rumors about Russian leadership being interested in the services of  Jarmo Ruutu has started to circulate. One of the rumors that seems to be getting more and more traction is Jarmo Ruutu traveling to Ukraine to entertain the Russian troops. In October numerous social media videos showed a figure, looking exactly like Jarmo Ruutu, in a dance studio taking lessons to learn the "Soldier's dance", but later on it was confirmed the figure in the videos was just a lookalike.  

Ruutu himself also commented on the dance videos by stating there is no way he can go down so low and move like that. Ruutu also posted a copy of his current contract with Moscow Menace, which specifically prohibits Jarmo Ruutu from trying to do the "Soldiers dance" as the organization has a history of foreign players injuring themselves trying to do the dance.

 

At least right now it does not look likely that Jarmo Ruutu is going to entertain the Russian troops, but perhaps we see the Finnish center in the news again soon.  The next opportunity for Moscow Menace and for the players to make headlines comes against Helsinki and Seattle, especially the Seattle game is going to be an interesting battle as the teams recently met, the game ended in a narrow 3-2 victory for Seattle.

[Daniel Janser 2,184]

1 hour ago, jRuutu said:

is Jarmo Ruutu traveling to Ukraine to entertain the Russian troops

I mean Finns have a history of entertaining Russian soldiers. Simo Häyhä was a real blast for them, so to speak

[jRuutu 2,467]

22 hours ago, Daniel Janser said:

I mean Finns have a history of entertaining Russian soldiers. Simo Häyhä was a real blast for them, so to speak

They did not know what hit them when Simo was around! Typical experience for the hardcore fans.