When browsing the lineups below the NHL game between Colorado and the New York Islanders played on Tuesday morning, you could guess what was to come. Colorado, ravaged by numerous injuries, started the match with ten attackers instead of the usual twelve, so the top players who were already under a heavy load were really getting minutes.
The numbers after the game were still surprising: Mikko Rantanen played four seconds over 29 minutes in the match.
The NHL has been keeping statistics on ice time since the 1997-1998 season, and almost from these years you can apply for the previous time when a Finnish forward exceeded the 29-minute mark in a regular season game. In fact, in the history of the Finnish NHL, no one else has achieved that Teemu Selänne.
During the calendar year 1998, Selänne played four 29-minute matches – the last time on October 25, 1998 against Phoenix. The ice time record for forwards in the NHL is exactly 30 minutes. Up to this point Vyacheslav Kozlov In an Atlanta jersey in 2003.
– That’s quite a lot for an attacker, but now there was overtime and other things. Injuries here have the most impact on their own ice times. I still managed surprisingly well. Now there are still a couple of games left before the three-day Christmas break, sighs Rantanen, reached by Urheilu from Denver.
– I was quite tired after the game and luckily I got a good night’s sleep. Sleep is certainly the most important thing when it comes to recovery.
However, there was nothing new in Rantanen during the Great Ice Age. Colorado has suffered an unimaginable number of injuries throughout the season and key players are still sidelined, including star forwards Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog and defender Bowen Byram.
A few weeks later, they were also on the sidelines Valery Nitshushkin mixed Artturi Lehkonen.
This has been reflected in Rantanen’s everyday life in the ever-increasing playing minutes. In the last six weeks or so (starting on November 14th), of all the NHL forwards, only Edmonton’s Connor McDavid has played more than Rantas. McDavid’s average is ten and Rantanen’s is nineteen seconds in just 24 minutes.
Rantanen has played once for 29 minutes, once for 27 minutes, twice for 25 minutes and so on. When talking about the overall stress, it is also good to remember that the light-built McDavid is a dozen kilos lighter than Ranta.
– Such minutes are certainly not good for the team in the long run either. If we’re talking about the six-week period, then it’s still going, it’s been going quite well here. However, you can’t pull off such a rally throughout the season if you still want to play with strong energy even in the playoffs, Rantanen reminds.
Fitness increases while playing
On the other hand, Rantanen belongs to that small group of Finnish NHL players whose athleticism can withstand the aforementioned mankle. For years, the player from Turku has been building bases that allow the screw to be tightened as seen, so that the level of playing does not drop or the body gives up.
– Work has been done in the summer so that I can play a lot. It is also the case that fitness increases when you play a lot. If you play for 24 minutes every other day, even by force, your condition will improve and you’ll get used to it a little, says the TPS teacher.
It goes without saying that the importance of quality recovery is emphasized when a player operates every other day with such ice times.
– Something has to be done after the game. You can’t take a shower, change clothes and go home to the sofa. The day after that and in the next game, it would be pretty sour. Now I rode the bike with Ars (Artturi Lehkonen) for twenty minutes, after which I stretched and had a massage. I was able to leave the hall only after eleven.
One part of recovery and coping is refueling. You could imagine that a bull of Rantanen’s size, weighing around 100 kilograms, eats terrible amounts through enormous consumption.
– There is enough food, but it also depends on the mood. If you’ve played a lot, you may not even be hungry after the game when it’s over. Even then you have to eat at least something. In general, a lot of food is wasted when consumption is high. You have to eat and refuel on the days in between as well. I still listen to my body and eat when I’m hungry, not by force.
In the NHL, the food service usually performs well, but on trips to away games the supply is not at the same level as at home games. Rantanen says that after home games, quality home-cooked food is available immediately, but after away games, before the plane, mostly pizza or other quick snacks.
Rantanen is not particularly particular about what he eats.
– The hall usually has pizza or sushi after away games, when “Kinnoni” (Nathan MacKinnon) sometimes keeps the lines in check, Rantanen laughs.
– I don’t count calories or think very carefully. If you spend this much, a couple of slices of pizza won’t do anything. It comes in handy right after the game. If you don’t like cooked rice right after the game, it’s enough**,** to eat at least something. Now let’s see what some food expert writes after this statement that I’m talking nonsense here, Rantanen laughs.
“What you normally bring is not enough”
Despite the merciless injury barrage, Colorado has survived the Christmas season quite well. Its winning record is the best after MacKinnon’s injury (December 5th) 4-3-1, although scoring has been tardy at times and the superiority game that supported the team in the fall has only worked with about nine percent efficiency during eight matches.
As a leading player, Rantanen deserves a commendable rating for his fall season. Even though the man has fallen from the sidelines like hay, Rantanen is still operating hard with a point average of 1.26 per match. After MacKinnon’s injury, Rantanen has scored seven goals in eight matches.
All in all, the way in which Rantanen comprehensively puts everything into play, down to the smallest details, every night in the rink is impressive.
– It comes from my own nature, I want to give my all. Now that there are important players out of this, everyone understands that they have to bring a little extra to the table. What you normally bring is not enough. That’s what I’ve tried to do and I’ve taken it as a matter of pride to show that we can win games now too, says Rantanen.
– I realize that my contribution is important if we want to win games. It brings the desire to show.
Rantanen has grown into an absolute top individual at the top of the hockey world, but through recent displays also into a really tough leader.