Reading Diary B: Kalevala

I enjoyed hearing about Joukahainen attempting to get revenge on Väinämöinen.  A quick google search has lead me to the discovery of the Finnhorse - the only native horsebreed to Finland.  With the description of Väinämöinen's horse as "straw colored" - I came up with this guy:

Finnhorse stallion, Ukkosen Poika

Okay, switching gears. This is going to act as my primer-slash-author's note for this week's storytelling.  So, let me tell y'all about a sweet little Finnish boy named Olli Määttä.

Olli

Normally it takes a lot to stir any sort of maternal instinct in me, but sometimes I look at this 6'2" blond puppy and I just want to wrap him in a blanket and make him some hot chocolate.  Even as he's bowling people over... (Olli's #3, the guy with the puck)

At just 19 years old during 2013-14 season, Olli immediately broke into the NHL (something more typical of forwards; it's harder for young defensemen to break in early just because the game is so much faster than at the lower levels - so you need a much higher hockey IQ/more sophisticated hockey sense).  

During the 2014 Winter Olympic break, Olli got a bronze medal playing with the likes of Teemu Selänne, a.k.a. The Finnish Flash - who was participating in his last Olympics. Selänne's career had lasted from 1989-2014 (longer than Olli's even been alive) and he still holds a number of records.  The greatest part of the whole thing?  Selanne gushing about Olli <3

Olli and Teemu

The 2014-15 season - Olli is now 20 - was less kind.  In October, a preseason medical checkup found a cancerous tumor in his thyroid.  So remember that picture from Reading Diary A?

My son.

That scar at the base of his throat is from the surgery to remove the cancer.  He goes on to talk about how the hardest part of having cancer isn't having cancer - it was having to tell his parents, his siblings, and his teammates.

[Olli Cancer Presser]

Later in the year, he once again went under the knife.  This time for a shoulder injury that took Olli out for the rest of the season.  Oh, and then he got mumps during a League wide outbreak.

You Can't Make This Up.

But, Olli has persevered.  He's made it back and the 21-year-old is continuing to play at a high level.

Possibly, through magic...