Urheilu’s expert Ismo Lehkonen emphasizes that his message was not that Rantanen had trained poorly in the summer.
Urheilu’s ice hockey expert Ismo Lehkonen elaborates on his comment that went with the star forward of the Colorado Avalanche Mikko Rantase to emotions.
In a story published by Urheilu on Monday, Lehkonen speculated on what could be the cause of Rantanen’s nine-match scoreless streak. He estimated that Rantase had a lot of “cat-crossings” in the summer and that he had to visit Helsinki a lot.
Rantanen expressed his dismay at Lehkonen’s statements on Tuesday morning Finnish time, when he commented to the North American media about the victorious Calgary match. Rantanen managed to score after a break of almost three weeks, and he also assisted two goals.
– The game was good. In fact, I got more energy from the fact that the father of one of the Finnish NHL players talked shit about me in the media, that I hadn’t trained last summer like in previous years. He made things up in his head. This game was for him. Talking shit backfires, Rantanen said.
“By the father of a Finnish NHL player” Rantanen refers to Lehkone, whose son Artturi Lehkonen also plays in Colorado.
Now Ismo Lehkonen responds to Rantanen’s enthusiasm.
– The summer is quite short, when there were playoffs and Mikko still came to the World Championships. I’m just speculating that with the number of minutes Miko played, the wall would have hit, because he’s had to hustle for everything. There have been running camp and other responsibilities, because of which he may not have had time to calm down enough, Lehkonen said on Tuesday.
According to Lehkonen, Rantanen is a sought-after guest at various events during the summer, so schedules can easily become busy.
– Mikko is one of those guys who finds it hard to say no, and he’s quite ready to do charity stuff and help junkies. Mikko is a benevolent puck ambassador, says Lehkonen.
Lehkonen emphasizes that he has not said that Rantanen trained poorly in the summer.
– There was nothing more wonderful than that in what I said, and in my opinion, I have pulled a pea in my nose for nothing. This is just life.
Ismo Lehkonen has not yet talked to Rantanen about the matter, but said that he intends to be in touch with this.
– Mikko was really angry (in the interview) and certainly got a little energy from that anger. A bit like this Michael Jordan situation, that he decides to show that the batteries are not empty. We will gladly accept it, says Lehkonen.
Artturi Lehkonen has not been in contact with his father for a while.
– He will certainly have to answer quite a lot when quite a storm arose from that, says Lehkonen.