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The story of Attakallio [2/2]


Bobby Bummhole

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Early Life

 

Toppi Attakallio was born in the small town of Alajärvi Finland. With a population of just 9’000 people it is one of the smaller towns in the small country of Finland. His Parents, Teemu and Tarri Attakallio were a very young couple, Teemu who had just been signed as a rookie to the Lathi Pelicans had to retire early in order to help take care of his son, due to his wife making the money.

 

At a young age Toppi wasn’t the type of kid to play sports. He preferred to stay inside and play his 3DS by himself rather then play soccer or Hockey with his peers outside. His father Teemu, attempted to push Toppi to pressure some sports, so, toppi ended up joining Gymnastics. 

 

Teemu became a very good gymnast very fast, but really didn’t have that much of a passion for it, he was just naturally flexible and nimble. He was only doing it because he was afraid of getting hurt in other sports, and no one is running at you in gymnastics.

 

At the age of 14 Toppi was with his friends and they were playing some basic street hockey, Toppi was watching from the sidelines, but when they were a keeper short, His friends peer pressured him into strapping on some old raggedy pads and playing goalie. He ended up being a natural. He loved it so much he ran home and demanded his dad sign him up for a rec league, and he did.

 

Junior Hockey Career

Toppi quickly dominated the junior recreation leagues in his small town, and his father began driving father to find teams for toppi to play. After a year of toppi going 16-2-1 with a .937 and 1.34 His father realized his son had a natural talent, and decided to move his family to the big city of Helsinki, where he could play against together teams. At a young age Toppi idealized the Titans, his county’s VHL team. He dreamed of playing for them one day, And used that dream to push himself and quickly became a household name at Helsinki arena’s.

 

Toppi ended up deciding to go overseas for a season, to play with the Calgary hitmen of the WHL. He was selected 19th overall in the import draft and made his debut in Calgary, winning a 3-1 game, and stopping 37 shots. Wowing the crowd with his quickness and flexibility.

 

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In a limited number of games, the young attakallio ended up going 11-13-3 and posting a .914 Save percentage and a 2.14 GAA. Toppi quickly got homesick though, and ended up returning home after the season ended. Toppi signed with the Lathi Pelicans, his fathers former team, and became a fan favourite very quickly. He dominated his first season in Liiga, going 19-6-8, Posting a .922 and 2.04. He had caught the eye of many scouts in the area. In the playoffs is where he really shines, He prettymuch single handily carries lathi to the conference finals. Going 11-5-1 with an absolutely insane .941 and 1.34. His numbers were off the charts and lathi fans began to adore him. 

 

To start art last season, Lathi lost a lot of players, and quickly became a rebuilding team. The pelicans weren’t really looking like an all star team. But Attakallio was. He stared the season going 7-3-2 with a .934 save percentage. Often facing slot of shots in games was led the league in shots faced by a goalie. But was still finding a way to steal games. About halfway through their season though, They Fired his father, Teemu for being late to work. Teemu was having many medical problems and was trying to keep up with the work of being one of team teams personal trainers but he was slipping, and instead of giving him a chance, The team dumped him. And toppi was enraged. After going on a media firestorm which included an interview With Finnish newspaper where he called the lathi owner “Penis head”, Toppi and Lathi agreed to void his contract. Fans were enraged and called for the sale of the team, or removal of the cheap owner. And toppi began looking for a team team to play for when he got a long distance call.

 

 

The VHLM

 

 

The San Diego Marlins, Who we’re struggling to start the VHLM season, Called Toppi And offered him a contract. After much thought he accepted, packed his bags and flew to San Diego to meet his new team. He was told he would duel Danny Funk for starting duties. A challenge he gracefully accepted.

 

After taking a few practices, to get used to the North American ice, Toppi expected to play soon, but he didn’t, He stayed on the bench and quickly became frustrated, wondering if he had made the wrong choice of teams. But they didn’t last long as he was quickly called upon in the first period of a game where Funk Allowed 4 Goals on 9 Shots.  Attakallio went in cold and Allowed 3 More goals on 31 Shots, but did enough to impress the Marlins management, or so he thought. He earned a start in his next game, but It didn’t go as planned and lost 6-4. Then the Marlins did something that blindsided him, They traded for a goalie. 

 

Attakallio lost his chance before he even had it. Just as he felt he was starting to fine tune his game, He became the 3rd Stringer. After having a heated conversation with the Gm, Attakallio Flew back to Finland to finish out his season with Tappara. Upon his return he was very vocal about his time in San Diego 

 

“I though I would at least have chance to play, I worked hard and tried by best to fit in but it didn’t work, I could never impress coach. I was told I would split games so I could improve my stock, but I was lied to. They screwed me over. I get they were trying to make playoffs, but it’s development league, and I only play 2 fucking games. I will never return to that team or management again.”

 

After a offseason of hard work, the Minnesota storm took a flyer on him in round 3 of the Dispersal draft, and to the surprise of many, he signed with the team. The Vancouver wolves also did the same, and drafted him in the VHL entry draft.

 

”Am very excited to play for Minnesota, I think it’s a second chance for me to really show off my skills, and if it didn’t work out I know there’s always a place for me back home. As for Vancouver, I’m going to work hard and try to become one of those late round steals.”

 

 

Well see how refined attakallios gane has become, as he’s currently penciled in to be the starting goaltender of the storm, so if there was ever to prove himself, now would be that time.

 

 

 

Edited by Bobby Bummhole
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Review: always love a redemption story. you painted a great portrait of Toppi’s ups and downs. it’s interesting how Toppi went from gymnastics to playing goalie , that’s a bit of an unexpected path in sports. I’m a fan of how you weaved in hockey stats with personal feelings on his success and struggles, it made his journey more real. good luck in Minnesota and Vancouver! 

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Review: Great job using statistics throughout your write up. I like that he made the move to the WHL and then ended up playing for the same team as his dad. Surprised he got the call to the VHLM knowing that he’s a bit of a hot head haha. Insults were on point as well. “penis head” gave me a good laugh.

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