Olympics.
I’m usually really excited about the Olympics. In 2006, I got to watch Darius Kasparaitis in the Olympics, and his goal was to make the team in 2010. Age (like, in years, not like the lovely proprietor of pink-spider.net) has finally caught up to Kaspar, and he’s not the player he used to be. He’s still a darned good defenseman, he’d be an asset to Team Russia, and I don’t think anyone would argue with that (Sans Philly fans, who’ve had to deal with him when he was the Islanders, Penguins, and Rangers), but he didn’t make the cut.
As I’m sure most people are aware; Jussi Jokinen is my favourite player still playing in the NHL. I’ve even drawn pictures of him, see?!
I was really excited about seeing him play for Team Finland in 2010. He’s easily one of the ten best Finnish players in the NHL, and probably one of the 15 best Finnish players currently playing. Surely he’s a shoo-in. I was so excited about it! I had set aside a couple hundred bucks to buy a team Finland jersey with his name on it. It’d be so great to watch him get a medal. Silver, bronze. Gold, maybe? I’d just be happy to see him play, of course I’d be happier to see him get a medal, but to see him play on the biggest hockey stage in the world, that’d be great, one of the highlights of my year.
Alas, roster announcements come, and Jussi Jokinen name isn’t mentioned. I think ‘Ha! This must be some bad translations, right? There’s no way Jussi Jokinen got the snub. I’ll check it out tomorrow’. I check it again, he’s not on the roster. I check it later, thinking maybe it was a preliminary roster? But he’s not on it, not even as a reserve. I was pretty upset. Now, on February 13th, with the Olympics about to start, it’s horribly clear that Mr. Jussi Jokinen is not going to be playing in Vancouver this February.
As such, I have no interest in the Olympics. No offense to team Canada, or team USA, the teams which I suppose I should back, but I’m a fan of players first, not teams or nationalities. With Jussi out of the picture, there’s not a lot for me to be interested in. And with the rink surface being only 85′ wide, the medal games are going to end up being a mismatched NHL All-Star game.
Sigh. Jokinen’s a young guy, surely he’ll make the team in 2014, right?