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Carolina teammates healthy, eager for Olympics Print
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Written by Brett Friedlander   
Wednesday, February 17, 2010 03:40
Tuomo Ruutu and Joni Pitkanen have a lot in common. The two 'Canes are among the best hockey players in their native Finland, and are finally healthy going into the Olympics.

One thought kept coming to Tuomo Ruutu as he sat at the doctor’s office waiting to be examined on the morning of Jan. 9: Not again.

Four years earlier, Ruutu suffered a sports hernia two weeks before the Olympics in Torino, Italy, costing him his spot on Finland’s national team and the chance at realizing a childhood dream.

Now here he was again, with pain shooting through his right shoulder less than a month from the start of another Olympic Games, and no idea how long before he’d be able to play.

“I’d lie if I said I wasn’t worried at all,” said the Carolina Hurricanes' left wing, who sustained the injury in a fight with Colorado’s Darcy Tucker.

Ruutu’s fears weren’t unfounded but, as it turned out, he would be OK. Exactly one month after being placed on injured reserve, Ruutu returned to score a goal for the Hurricanes – fittingly enough, on Tuomo Ruutu bobblehead night – in a 4-1 win against the Florida Panthers.

The 26-year-old added an assist two nights later to help beat the Buffalo Sabres before packing his bags and heading to Vancouver to represent his country with teammate and fellow Finn Joni Pitkanen.

“I cut it close, obviously, but it feels good now,” Ruutu said. “The Olympics are something special, especially in a small country like Finland. It’s something I’ve dreamed about since I was a little kid. I’m definitely excited.”

So is Pitkanen who, like Ruutu, was selected to play for his country in Torino, but watched from home because of an injury.

A dependable 6-foot-3, 210-pound defenseman, Pitkanen leads the NHL in average ice time at more than 27 minutes per game, and his 30 assists rank eighth among the league’s blueliners despite missing 10 games at the start of the season with a knee injury.

Like Ruutu, he has been a mainstay on his country’s national teams since he was a teenager. His only regret about finally representing Finland in the Olympics is that another Carolina teammate, Jussi Jokanen, was not among those selected to the team. Pitkanen and Jokanen have been friends since their days growing up in the town of Oulu.

“It’s always tough to choose the teams,” Pitkanen said. “You can’t please everybody. I was hoping that Jussi would be on the team, but it didn’t happen.

“Absolutely he was disappointed about it at first, but lately he’s been playing very good. No matter what, he’s happy for us and wishing us well.”

As for their team, both Pitkanen and Ruutu are optimistic about their chances of returning to Raleigh with medals in their possession.

Finland is not among the Olympic favorites, but that shouldn’t matter. As underdogs four years ago, the Finns nearly surprised the world by advancing to the finals against Sweden before settling for silver.

With a strong goaltending trio of Niklas Backstrom, Mikka Kiprusoff and Antero Nittymaki and a defense anchored by Pitkanen, Kimmo Timonen and Sami Salo, the “Blue Machine” could once again emerge as a top team.

“We don’t have a lot of stars, but we have really great team chemistry and passion,” said Ruutu, who will be joined on the forward lines by the likes of Olli Jokinen, Teemu Selanne, Jere Lehtinen and the brothers Koivu, Mikko and Saku. “Sometimes that’s all you need in hockey.”

Pitkanen said he has stayed in contact with most of his fellow Olympic team members and all are ready to get to Vancouver and start playing together.

Although they haven’t worked out as a group since August, when they held a preseason training camp back home, the Finns are confident they’ll be ready to play their best beginning Wednesday against Belarus.

“Our strength is that everybody knows each other so well and that we know how we all play,” Pitkanen said. “Finland is such a small country, that everybody has played with or against everybody else at some point in their career.

“Even though it’s been a while since we’ve played as a group, you go there (to Vancouver) and feel like you’ve spent the whole year with those guys. You just pick right up where you left off the last time.”

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Last Updated on Wednesday, February 17, 2010 08:11