Claimed:Sorry Draper

[Smarch 3,196]

Tuomas Tukio: The Man, The Myth, The Legend?

 

 

Last week Tuomas Tukio made it official when he called a press conference to announce his pending retirement from the Victory Hockey League. Everyone knew Tukio would be leaving the league at the end of the season, but the house was still packed when Tukio took to the podium inside a conference room below the Garden ice surface. A late signing with New York this off-season the Finnish goaltender will be looking to go out on a high note, while establishing his name amongst the great goalies to grace a VHL crease. Today we’ll take a look back at the first few years of his career, the one’s that started the legendary career we see today.

 

Tukio signed a free agent agreement with the Helsinki Titans as his player agent Mitch Higgins wa the General Manager of the team at the time. Tukio made the jump to the VHL in his first eligible year in Season Thirty-One and made quite the first impression in the process. Playing in sixty-four games in his first season Tukio won thirty-three of those games, while putting up an impressive .912 save percentage for a rookie goaltender. Tukio and the Titans qualified for the playoffs but were heading in as heavy underdogs against the Riga Reign. The Titans stole the opening game against the Reign but that was all the young team could muster against the Reign as they were eventually beat in five games. Tukio and the enite Titans franchise didn't have a good playoffs but the team was just building up on what would be many future playoff appearances.

 

 

In Tukio’s sophomore season the Titans were expected again to make a post-season appearance and Tukio made sure of that with stellar play in Season Thirty-Two.  Tukio finished second in wins with forty-five and fifth in the league in save percentage with a very respectable .927. The Titans would finish second behind the Reign in the European Conference and went head to head against the Vasteras Iron Eagles. The series would go seven games and the Titans would eventually squeak by Vasteras on the back of a thirty-one save performance by Tuiko. The team would then head into a second consecutive post-season match-up against the Riga Reign as heavy underdog. The Titans unfortunately didn’t fair any better this season against the Reign as they lost in four straight games, while Tukio struggled to find consistency in the series as he would post a superstar performance followed by a sub .850 save percentage the very next game. The Titans were still in good position heading into Season Thirty-Three even though they were just swept by the Reign as they would only see only player leave the fold.

 

 

Tukio’s third season in the VHL was even better than the last as he started to really turn into the superstar we have grown to know today. Tukio lead the league in wins with an amazing fifty-three and tied for the league lead in goals against average with a 1.73. The Titans would ride Tukio to a 127 point first place finish, which if extremely impressive as it is the best record in the VHL since the Seattle Bears put up 128 points way back in Season Five. The Titans would get the bye into the Conference Finals by finishing first in the European Conference, awaiting the winner of the Davos and Riga series. Riga would take the series after seven tough games and move on to take on the Titans in the Conference Finals for the second straight year, but as the underdogs this time around. Tukio and the Titans were looked to exact revenge on Riga for two straight playoff exists at the hands of the Reign, but the Reign appeared to have different plans after they really came together as a team in the series against Davos. The Reign would win games six and seven to take the series from under the Titans nose and send the team packing from the playoffs for a third consecutive season. With many fans calling for changes in Helsinki immediately after the collapse in the playoffs the Titans management stood pat again believing in the core they had built over the past three seasons.

 

 

Season Thirty-Four was a do or die season for the core that was intact for the Helsinki Titans. With many of the players being in the league for three or four seasons now, it was expected that they should be in peak form and ready to dominate the VHL. The Titans were again the class of the league during the regular season with 110 points, well ahead of the second place Riga Reign. The Titans again were awarded the bye into the Conference Finals for another first place finish, but this year they decided to do things a little different. The team enlisted the help of Ilves-Hockey Oy, a hockey club that plays in the Finnish elite league to help keep the team in game shape. The Titans played a seven game series against Ilves-Hockey Oy while awaiting the winner of the semi-finals matchup between Riga and Cologne. When the time finally rolled around to play the Reign again for the third straight season in the Conference Finals, the Titans were more the ready this time around. This time around it was the Titans winning game six to force a game seven, which they would ultimately dominate moving on to the Continental Cup finals for the first time since winning it all back in Season Twenty-Seven. The Titans would meet the offensively gifted Calgary Wranglers in the cup finals with the likes of Alexander Chershenko, Volodymyr Rybak and Clark Marcellin lighting the lamp for the Wranglers night in and night out. The series would go down to the wire like many other playoff series the Titans were involved with since Tukio joined the Finnish club. Game seven saw the best goaltender performance that Titans fans have witnessed in a while as Tukio put up a thirty-two save performance to capture the fifth championship in franchise history.

While the Titans franchise has seen it’s fair share of superstar goaltenders pass through in the past thirty-eight seasons, not one of them has had the impact that Tukio has had on the franchise. The hometown goalie will forever be a hero in the hearts of Titans faithful.

 

[eaglesfan036 4,605]

Draper 2 gud?

[Higgins 3,618]

Frig. Helsinki was awesome.

 

Made it so much better winning it all after losing 3 straight seasons to Riga, including a sweep and 3-1 comeback, in the playoffs.

[Will 4,662]

i forgive you

[Will 4,662]

Content: 3/3

1067 words. Really good read on the history of the great Tuomas Tukio. He has, without a doubt, has a storied career that will go down in VHL history. It was really good to see him picked up by the Americans after spending days on Free Agency, as I know that he really wanted to hammer out one last season before heading back to Finland for good. All rookie goalies should aspire to have a career like Tukio's. 

 

Grammar: 2/2

Just a few minor things:

 

off-season = off-season,

 

wa = was

 

see only player = see one player

 

Appearance: 1/1

Looks dandy.

 

Overall: 6/6

[Kesler 1,514]

Claimed