1991 Finland National Team Jari Kurri Jersey

Born on this date in 1960 in Helsinki, Finland, Jari Kurri began his professional career in 1977-78 at the age of 17 with Jokerit of the Finnish SM-liiga. Later that same season saw the beginning of his long and illustrious international career by being named the Best Forward at the 1978 European Junior Hockey Championships after scoring 6 goals and 8 points in 4 games.

His next international appearance was at the 1979 World Junior Championships where he scored 5 points in 6 games.

1980 was a busy one for Kurri on the Finland National Team, as he first competed in a second World Juniors, where he tied for the tournament scoring lead with 11 points in 5 games as Finland captured the silver medal on home ice in Helsinki.

Kurri then played 8 games with the national team in preparation for the Olympics, which commenced just five weeks after the World Juniors. Finland's loss to the United States on the final day, after leading going into the third period, cost them a medal as they placed fourth, a single point behind Sweden.

After completing the 1979-80 season with Jokerit, Kurri then joined the Edmonton Oilers of the NHL, a team on the verge of a Stanley Cup dynasty. The next time Kurri suited up for Finland was at the 1981 Canada Cup prior to the upcoming NHL season. The 1981-82 season would be the final one prior to the freight train that was the 1980's Oilers getting up to full speed, and Edmonton's first round exit of the 1982 playoffs gave him one final opportunity for the time being to participate in the World Championships where he scored 7 points in 7 games.

With the Oilers going to the Stanley Cup Finals for the next five seasons, Kurri's appearances in the World Championships were now on hiatus. It would be five six years before he would wear Finland's blue and white again, this time for the 1987 edition of the Canada Cup.

After a fourth Stanley Cup with Edmonton in 1988, an early playoff exit in 1989 allowed Kurri to once again skate in the spring's annual World Championships, where he impressed with 9 points in 7 games.

The Oilers rebounded in 1990 to win the 5th Stanley Cup of Kurri's carer prior to his taking a year away from the NHL to play hockey in Italy for a season, where he had a clause in his contract which made certain he was available for the 1991 World Championships hosted by Finland. Playing in front of his fellow countrymen, Kurri was in top form, scoring 6 goals and 6 assists in 10 games.

His NHL rights were traded from Edmonton to Philadelphia and later the same day to Los Angeles in May of 1991, but before joining the Kings and being reunited with Oilers teammate Wayne Gretzky, Kurri captained Finland at the 1991 Canada Cup tournament.

Up to this point, Finland had been admittedly a mid-pack team, never having won a medal at the World Championships and only one at the Olympics, that coming in 1988 with a silver. Things began to change in 1992 when Finland earned their first World Championship medal, a silver, although Kurri was not present.

He was present however, when Finland returned to the medal podium in 1994, aided by Kurri's 10 points in 8 games, as they came up just short of the gold by losing in the final 2-1 after a shootout in his final World Championship appearance.

His next opportunity to skate for Finland came in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, the successor to the Canada Cup.

Finally, in 1998 when the NHL put it's season on hold to allow it's players to compete, Kurri made only his second Olympics, 18 years after his first, which concluded with a 3-2 win over Canada to earn the Finns a bronze medal, the third medal of his long international career.

His playing days came to an end following the conclusion of the 1997-98 NHL season with Kurri the highest scoring European-born player in NHL history with over 600 goals to his credit. His number 17 was retired by both the Oilers and the Finland National Team. He was also inducted to the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2000 and was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2001, the first Finn ever inducted.

Kurri is currently the general manager of the Finland National Team, who just won their second World Championship in their history this past Sunday.

Today's featured jersey is a 1991 Finland National Team Jari Kurri jersey as worn in the 1991 World Cup. This jersey was produced by Tackla out of Finland and features a short-lived cartoonish lion's head logo which was quickly replaced by a new shield-style logo which remains in use today.

Today's video selection is highlights of Finland at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, which includes Kurri scoring a goal on Canada's Patrick Roy.

2008 Finland National Team Mikko Koivu Jersey

For the first time in 16 years, and only the second time in their history, Finland have won the World Championship following their 6-1 thrashing of arch-rivals Sweden.

Finland's captain Mikko Koivu is thrilled to hoist

the World Championship trophy

After a scoreless first period Sweden scored the first goal when Magnus Pääjärvi gave Sweden and their fans a false sense of hope with a laser beam of a wrist shot from the left faceoff circle that beat Peteri Vehanen on his glove side and into the upper corner of the net.

Sweden nearly went ahead by two when they hit a post while on a power play, but when Finland got a late power play, they were able to convert with just seven second remaining in the period when the tournament's leading scorer Jarkko Immonen, after skating in from the left point, blasted a shot past Sweden's Viktor Fasth to give the Finns a huge boost heading into the final intermission.

It would not take Finland long to seize the lead. Just 2:35 into the third Pettri Nokelainen converted a pass from Antti Pihlström after sneaking in behind the Swedish defense and one timing the puck into the net and sending Fasth's water bottle flying. Less than one minute later Niko Kapanen banged in a loose puck after a Swedish turnover deep in their own zone for a 3-1 margin and the Finns were on their way, this after NHL shootout specialist Mikko Koivu failed to convert a breakaway chance moments earlier.

The period continued for the next 13 minutes with Sweden failing to beat Vehanen to close the gap before the wheels came off for Sweden. First Janne Pesonen extended the lead to three with a goal at 16:41 when he sped around the Swedish defense, picked up a dump in off the end boards, skated across the front of the net and deposited a backhander into the net behind Fasth.

Mika Pyörälä then got the party started early when he put another one past Fasth just 35 seconds later and the rout was on. Pihlström capped off the scoring and really kicked the party into high gear with Finland's fifth goal of the period with just 55 seconds remaining in the game to make the final score an unbelievable 6-1, no doubt sending the citizens of Helsinki into the night in full song.

Since winning their first World Championship, in Sweden, in 1995, Finland had made the gold medal final four times, coming up short on each occasion, so to not only win, but win big and over their main rivals Sweden, made this victory that much sweeter.

In the earlier game, the Czech Republic captured the bronze by outlasting Russia 7-4 in the tournament's highest scoring game.

Finland's destruction of Sweden sets up an interesting scenario, as the two countries will co-host the next two World Championships, with the games being divided between Stockholm, Sweden and Helsinki, Finland, with the finals in 2012 being held in Helsinki and the 2013 finals located in Stockholm.

Today's featured jersey is a 2008 Finland National Team Mikko Koivu jersey, as worn in the 2008 World Championships. This jersey features the IIHF 100th Anniversary patch on the rear hem as worn by all the teams in that year's edition of the World Championships. It also sports the Finnair sponsorship patches on the arms, giving the jersey it's distinctive World Championship look.

While Koivu was only an assistant captain in 2008, he carried on the family tradition established by his older brother Saku Koivu, the long-time captain of the Finland National Team.

Today's video section is extended highlights of the gold medal final of the 2001 IIHF World Championships from Slovakia.

Here's more of the Finns taking to the streets of Helsinki following their championship, clothing optional.

Our Third String Goalie Finnish hockey name is Antti Jokinen.

To get your own Finnish hockey name, try the Third String Goalie
Hockey Name Generator!

1995 Finland National Team Janne Ojanen Jersey

On this date in 1995, Finland won the IIHF World Championship for the first and only time. The script could hardly have gone any better for Finland, as they defeated arch rivals Sweden in Sweden.

Finland has a long history in the World Championships and Olympics, first appearing in 1939 and being regular participants since 1949, but did not earn their first medal until 1988 with a 2-1 win over the Soviet Union at the Olympics in Canada, a span of nearly 40 years. Their first World Championship success would come in 1992 with a silver medal in Czechoslovakia after a loss in the final game to Sweden.

They followed that with a disappointing 7th place at the World Championships in 1993, their lowest finish since 1983, before rebounding with another silver in 1994 in Italy, after losing in the final in a shootout to Canada, just three months after earning a bronze medal at the Olympics in Norway.

Now having arrived as serious contenders on the international stage, they entered the 1995 World Championships aiming for the top after their previous close calls. The Finns were led by a line known as "Tupu, Hupu and Lupu", Finnish for Huey, Dewey and Louie, the nephews of Disney cartoon character Donald Duck.

Jere Lehtinen (Lupu), made his international debut at age 19 in the 1992 World Championships, Saku Koivu (Tupu) arrived in 1993, at age 19, in the World Championships and Ville Peltonen (Hupu) completed the line when they all played together in Pelotnen's international debut at the 1994 Olympics at age 20.

While Finland's past history was barren of medals and championships, "Tupu, Hupu and Lupu" entered the 1995 World Championships with Lehtonen (two silvers and a bronze in three years of international experience), Koivu (a silver and a bronze in two years) and Peltonen (a silver and a bronze after one year) as winners with high expectations.

Those expectations met with a rude awakening in the form of a 3-0 shutout loss to the Czech Republic in their opening game. They quickly got back on the right track with a decisive 6-3 win over rivals and tournament hosts, Sweden. They took care of business with expected wins over Norway (5-2) and Austria (7-2). They completed their First Round group play with a 4-4 tie with the United States, taking second place in the group.

Finland easily advanced in the quarterfinals with a 5-0 win over France and got revenge for their only loss of the tournament against the Czech Republic in the form of another 3-0 shutout, only this time in favor of Finland, setting up the gold medal final against hosts Sweden.

Peltonen was the star of the show, scoring the first goal to put Finland ahead in the first period after making a drop pass at the blueline and then putting the rebound of a teammate's blast into a wide open goal.

During the second period Peltonen got his second goal after receiving a pass from center ice at the blueline, he simply wound up and fired a slapshot past the Swedish goaltender, launching his water bottle like a celebratory firework into the air to put Finland up 2-0.

Peltonen then completed the natural hat trick after a beautiful play after Peltonen gained the Sweden zone on the right, made a drop pass back to Koivu who made a cross-ice pass to defenseman Mika Stromberg who was streaking in unguarded on the left. Stromberg blew around the flat footed Swedish defense, cut to the net, slammed on the breaks and tried to move the puck from his backhand to his forehand, but lost control of the puck, which slid right across the crease to Peltonen, now stationed on the right side of the goal, for another easy tap in with just four seconds remaining in the second period give Finland a three goal lead heading into the final period.

Not quite finished yet, Peltonen assisted on the fourth Finnish goal when he fed the puck back to the blueline and defenseman Timo Jutila fired the puck through everyone for a back-breaking 4-0 lead and a goal celebration that took him the length of the ice.

Sweden was able to spoil the shutout to make the final score 4-1 after a fluky, high arching deflection was misplayed by Jarmo Myllys, who otherwise stood tall in goal, earning the victory for the new World Champions.

Lehtonen, Koivu and Peltonen were all named to the tournament All-Star Team, with Koivu being named Best Forward. To rub their victory in, the coach of the Finnish team, Swede Curt Lindström, took his team to Sergels torg, the central public square in Stockholm, the site for public recognition of Swedish sporting success, and brought 15,000 wildly celebrating Finnish fans with to share in the joy, which they did by singing the official Swedish song of the 1995 World Championship, "Den Glider In"

Finland received a massive welcome home back in Tampere, Finland, with the celebrations being televised on live TV to a national audience.

Today's featured jersey is a Reebok 1995 Finland National Team Janne Ojanen jersey. This is the same style jersey used in the 1994 Olympic games, and while branded as a Reebok jersey, they were produced by Tackla, using the same mesh fabric and dyesublimation process. Visually, the only difference between the Olympic jerseys and the World Championship versions are the additions of the sponsorship patches to each arm.

Here are the highlights from the 1995 World Championship gold medal final between victorious Finland and Sweden.

Here are scenes of the massive celebration on their return home to Finland, as they continue to adopt "Den Glider In" as their own. Don't miss the guy playing air guitar with the then World Championship trophy!

These scenes are proof that while the NHL might not take the World Championships nearly as seriously as they do the Olympics, it clearly still matters to Europeans.