Linguistic mix among players
Swedes, Finns, Czechs all come together as a team by speaking English when it counts
Juuso Valimaki is outnumbered.
It’s not the first time. The 20-year-old Calgary Flames rookie formerly was the lone Finnish player on the Tri-City Americans roster, meaning that all conversations he had on and off the ice were in English.
He thinks in English. He speaks English to his Swedish defence partner Rasmus Andersson. And even when he occasionally reverts to Finnish on the bench when he is trying to re-focus himself, Valimaki will flip a switch back.
“I’m used to it,” the blueliner said with a chuckle. “There haven’t been any Finns for a while. But now there’s so many Swedes that I get kind of pi--ed off that they get to talk Swedish and I don’t have a buddy I can talk to in Finnish.
“I don’t really even say Finnish words that much on the ice. I used to, but not any more.”
During Sunday’s 5-3 victory over the visiting Chicago Blackhawks, Valimaki had a few words to spare in Finnish to Henri Jokiharju, his former teammate with Finland’s world junior squad.
And it’s typically the case when players cross paths with players from their country. They can’t help it. Speaking in their first language comes naturally.
“It depends on how the game is going and what’s happening on the ice,” Valimaki explained. “If there’s a nice play or I’ll say ‘Atta boy’ (in Finnish). Or if the game’s
not going well, we might swear together. Similar stuff you’d say in English or Swedish.”
Speaking of the Swedes, they’ve infiltrated Calgary’s roster this year. Elias Lindholm joined the team from the Carolina Hurricanes while Andersson was recalled shortly after the season kicked off and has stuck around.
Mikael Backlund isn’t complaining.
“When me and Frida go for (team) dinners and sit by (other Swedes), it’s great. No one probably knows what we’re saying and it’s perfect,” the Vasteras, Sweden, native joked. “We can say whatever we want to each other and no one will understand.”
But sometimes, they’ll speak to each other in English, too.
“When we play, we talk in English because it’s easier. We’re used to speaking in hockey terms,” Backlund explained. “But when we form a penalty kill or on the bench when Razzy or Lindy are talking and it’s more calm, we speak in Swedish. If we yell across the bench to each other, we might go English.
“But if we’re sitting beside each other, we’ll talk in Swedish.” When Lindholm was in Carolina, then-general manager Ron Francis wanted players to speak English to avoid alienating each other.
“I try to avoid talking Swedish when guys are around,” said Lindholm, who hails from Boden, Sweden. “But there is some stuff, it’s hard to say in English and easier to say in Swedish. It’s just a respectful thing, you want to respect your teammates and if everyone can speak English, it’s easier for everyone.”
English is taught to students early in Sweden, so both Backlund
and Lindholm have been speaking the language since an early age. Ditto for Valimaki, who, in addition to learning English in school, studied Swedish for four years.
And he’s fully aware that not many people would understand his native tongue, even if they tried.
“There is nothing similar to any other language,” Valimaki said of Finnish. “It sounds really boring, too. Like, when I talk. That’s always what people say when I talk Finnish with someone else. All the words sound the same for a lot of people.”
Backlund explained that sometimes, even after playing and living in North American for so long, he’ll still confuse his words.
“I’ll mix Swedish and English,” he said. “I was talking to one of our fitness coaches and meant to say a number in English but I said it in Swedish. I was like, ‘You didn’t get that, did you?’ It happens, especially now more because of all the Swedish guys on the team.”
But Lindholm who, for the record, has never mixed up his languages to linemates Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan, says it’s important to have good communication on a team regardless of the language.
“If I’m only talking to Backs or Rasmus, I’ll talk in Swedish,” Lindholm said. “But all the plays go through the ‘D’-men so you want to be on the same page and let them know what’s going on. When I got traded, it was nice to have a couple of Swedes and to ask some stuff in Swedish. You don’t want to isolate yourself and you want to get to know everyone.”
That’s David Rittich’s philosophy.
While the 25-year-old native of Jihlava always has time for a Czech chirp at Michael Frolik, the netminder wants to direct traffic in English.
“I want to make sure everyone can understand me, what’s going on the ice so I talk English to him, too,” Rittich said. “It’s what I want to do. Everyone have to know what’s going on and I’ve got everything in front of me. It’s like, one guy can be turned back to the play and I want to let him know what’s going on. It doesn’t matter if he’s Swedish or Czech.”
Good thing; Valimaki can’t understand a word of Czech.