Janne Niinimaa - defenseman and heavy rock devotee

While other hockey players are on the golf course, Niinimaa is checking out heavy metal festivals

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By Asko Temmes in Oulu
     
      The barracks blocks of the former garrison at Hiukkavaara in Oulu look abandoned, but they are anything but quiet and deserted. Heavy metal band Maple Cross from nearby Kiiminki has noticed, along with a good many other local bands, that the empty army huts make for a great rehearsal hang-out.
      In addition to the music, the other heavy equipment on display here is in the form of Finnish hockey international Janne Niinimaa, who is known as a confirmed fan of all things metal as well as being a valued defenseman with the New York Islanders.
     
As a young boy, Niinimaa moved from Raahe on the coast to Jääli, close to Kiiminki, where the kids on the block had two hobbies above all others.
      "We’d play hockey and we’d listen to heavy metal. That was what we were into - and we still are."
      Some of the crowd from those days have been left with a guitar in their hands, while others wound up wielding a hockey stick and wearing skates. Niinimaa himself is astonished at the way heavy metal axe-heroes handle their instrument, and from time to time at gigs he curses the fact that his father didn’t put a guitar into his hands as a boy. He has no great wish to step out on stage with his own playing skills as they are now.
      "It’s so difficult, when you have so little time and then when you hear how awful you sound. Of course, on air guitar I’m brilliant", grins Niinimaa. From an adjacent hut there comes the sound of someone rehearsing Bruce Springsteen’s The River - though it is only barely recognisible and somewhat off-key.
     
At this point it is necessary to point out that Niinimaa’s musical tastes do not stray towards the spandex & glitter branch of heavy, nor to or the heroic Led Zeppelin side of things, but to the heaviest, darkest specimens of the breed. Even within the NHL, he listens to his favourite sounds more often than not when alone in the gym, as not all locker-rooms subscribe to his bottom-end tastes.
      Niinimaa says that the best pre-match warmup music gets played in Calgary and Dallas. He also enjoys trips to Philadelphia (where he began his NHL career in 1996) since audiences there like to really rock out at matches. The country and western sounds in the Nashville Predators’ arena leave Niinimaa shaking his head in disbelief, although he says the signature tune of his own New York Islanders leaves something to be desired, too.
     
As his summer close-season pastime, Janne Niinimaa does not hone his driving and chipping skills on the golf course - like most of his NHL colleagues do - but prefers to hang out at rock festivals.
      The highlights of this summer were the Wacken Open Air Festival in Germany, and Helsinki’s own Tuska Metal Festival in Kaisaniemi Park. He also acknowledges the local scene: JääliCityRokki in his home village is an annual pilgrimage.
     
But what is it that prompts the interest in heavy metal music found in Northern Finland and tiny little hamlets like Jääli?
      "It’s so dark and cold up here. There’s plenty of angry young men to go round", the defenseman offers.
      Niinimaa also enjoys life in the rather larger burg of New York City, where acts small and large alike turn out for club gigs, with an intimate atmosphere. Sometimes things on the floor get so wild that even a 186 cm, 100kg hockey back used to giving and taking hits on the ice needs to watch out.
      Metal fans are not known for being a very bright and breezy bunch, and a certain dour grimness is a part of the act. Surely this does not mean that Niinimaa has given up his broad trademark grin for good?
      "No, no. The music sounds good and gives me a good vibe", is the way he explains his choice of listening.
     
Music is an important factor in charging up the batteires for international games, too, but what gets some players all fired up may give others little more than a migraine.
      "They seem to be a pretty wimpish bunch, those Finnish hockey jocks. There’s only one or two who listen to heavy. It’s always a huge fight over what gets played", laughs Niinimaa.
      Jere Karalahti (HIFK Helsinki), Toni Lydman (Calgary Flames), Ossi Väänänen (Colorado Avalanche), and Jere Lehtinen (Dallas Stars) are all Niinimaa’s musical allies. What makes Niinimaa’s skin crawl most of all are the "Suomi numbers" favoured by star forward Teemu Selänne (Colorado Avalanche).
      The toughest arm-wrestling over what goes into the CD-player is usually with Juha Lind (Helsinki Jokerit), who is the semi-official locker room DJ.
      "He wanted to listen to Finnish stuff and I wanted Slayer. But we always change over after a bit. The others can’t take metal for very long."
     
Note: Janne Niinimaa and the others, with the exception of Juha Lind and the banned Jere Karalahti, opened their World Cup of Hockey campaign on Monday evening in Helsinki with a an impressive 4-0 shutout of the Czech Republic. (See linked article)
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 25.8.2004

More on this subject:
 Selections for World Cup of Hockey left Niinimaa disappointed

Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finnish Lions get World Cup of Hockey campaign off to blistering start (31.8.2004)

Links:
  New York Islanders: Janne Niinimaa, #44
  World Cup of Hockey 2004

ASKO TEMMES / Helsingin Sanomat
asko.temmes@sanoma.fi