The days of former lion captain Kari Makkonen, 69, are filled with work as a school counselor. At the beginning of February, Makkonen’s jersey will be on the roof of the Isomäki ice rink in Pori.
Mika Viljanen,
Karri Laihonen
The students of the Friitala and Olav unified school in Ulvila, a neighbor of Pori, know that the grown-up gentleman who works as a school counselor is called Kari.
It is also known that he once played ice hockey in Pori Ässi.
– During my playing and coaching career, I got used to working with young people. Now I do it at school and I think it’s great to be able to share my own life experience with young people, says Kari.
Fewer schoolchildren know that Rocksby surname Makkonen was actually a very tough hockey player. So hard that the career carried him to captain the national team and for one season to the North American professional league and finally to the Edmonton Oilers.
His playing career at the top level lasted almost 20 years, after which Makkonen enjoyed himself in coaching positions until the 2020s.
At the league level, Makkonen worked for years as an assistant coach of the Tappara league team, and head coaches accumulated from lower league levels from all over Finland.
At the SM league level, Makkonen only represented Pori Ässi in his playing career. In more than five hundred league matches, performances were created with an average of more than a point. For example, in the 1978–79 season, Makkonen scored 36 goals in as many matches.
Year 1979
The Edmonton Oilers rose from the late WHA league to become an NHL team in the fall of 1979. Kari Makkonen, who also played in the top season in the SM league, went to test the adequacy of his playing skills in the world’s toughest puck series with the Edmonton team.
The season was not a great success. Makkonen only got to play nine games in the NHL. There were two goals, as well as assists. Otherwise, the season went well in the farm series.
However, there is a big story behind the numbers. The Oilers had a teenage top promise in their ranks Wayne Gretzkywhose chain mate Kari Makkonen also got to play a few matches.
Makkonen recalls that he didn’t really think about the importance of playing with Gretzky back then.
– Sure, I knew that he had scored a lot of points in the junnus series and in the previous season in the WHA, but he wasn’t such a star yet. In retrospect, of course, the respect is great, Makkonen recalls.
Year 1986
Finland, which is still counted among the small ice hockey countries, had in vain chased ice hockey’s prize medal for decades when the World Cup medals were discussed in Moscow in the spring of 1986.
The lion pack went to the games under the captaincy of Ässien Kari Makkonen. A man whose fluffy mustache during his playing career would surely have its own Instagram pages nowadays.
As a player, Makkonen was a humble and hard worker without any pretensions, but he was still able to hit power at the pace of the best scoring lines.
That first medal in Moscow was so close. With a win in their penultimate game against Sweden, Finland would have been able to secure the first World Cup medal in its history and the opportunity to fight even for the world championship.
Finland went into the last minute of the match with a 4–2 lead, until the concepts of the lion pack got completely confused.
Sweden’s slick striker Anders “Masken” Karlsson managed to strike twice and the disaster was complete. In the end, the medal dreams were crushed when Finland lost the last game of the medal series to Canada.
Became Finland’s coach with an emergency alert Rauno Korpi swallowed tears, Kari Makkonen’s mustache twitched in disappointment. It wasn’t Finland’s time yet, even if Makkonen in particular would have been blessed with a World Cup medal to crown a wonderful career.
The year 2024
The date February 2nd has been well chosen to honor Kari Makkonen’s fine puck career. At that time, Pori Ässie’s jersey with the number 22 goes up to the roof of the Isomäki ice rink.
Among other things, the shirts of the chain friends from the 1978 championship year are already waiting at the place of honor, i.e. Arto Javanainen number 4 as well Veli-Pekka Ketolan 13.
– It is the greatest honor that the club can give to a player. I myself have the feeling that I was able to give something to the club and now the club is giving me this honor. It’s pretty amazing, summarizes Makkonen.