Linesman Stefan Fonselius returns gold medal puck and becomes hero in Canada

Winning puck from the Olympic ice hockey final travelled to Finland in the official's trouser pocket

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By Riitta Koivuranta
     
      Over the years, there have been quite a few Finnish hockey stars worshipped by the Canadians for their exploits on the ice, but none quite like a certain Stefan Fonselius.
      Last month, the linesman from the town of Kaarina in the southwest of Finland came very close to achieving the status of Canadian national hero, by delivering into the hands of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) the puck with which Canada sealed its victory against the USA in the Olympic ice hockey final in Vancouver.
     
In the story of the missing victory puck, the lead role from start to finish is played by Fonselius himself.
      After Sidney Crosby had scored with 7:40 on the clock in the first period of overtime, meaning Canada had triumphed 3-2 over a battling Team USA, Fonselius - one of the linesmen for the final - simply picked up the puck from the back of the USA net, put it in his trouser pocket, and hauled the most precious puck in Canadian ice hockey history over the pond to Finland.
      “When Crosby's overtime goal went in, I skated over and picked up the puck as a linesman is supposed to. Then came the award ceremonies and by the time we left the arena everyone, including me, had forgotten all about the puck”, Fonselius recalls.
     
Fonselius took a shower, packed his uniform into his bag, returned to his hotel, and flew back to Finland the morning after the final.
      “The next day I started unpacking my bag at home and I found the puck. I had no idea of what kind of kerfuffle this was going to cause, what this puck really was, and how much it meant to the passionate Canadians. To me it was just a puck like any other.”
     
By this stage, ice hockey crazy Canada was concentrating all its attentions on a desperate search for the stick and the gloves belonging to Sidney Crosby, scorer of the game-winning goal. After victory was in the bag, Crosby had thrown his equipment in the air.
      At least in the media, there was no mention whatsoever of the puck at this point.
     
Fonselius contacted the IIHF headquarters in Zürich, Switzerland, where he sent the puck.
      From there it was delivered on to Toronto, where it now rests in a place of honour in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
     
So, how did everything happen? Why did Fonselius not hand over the puck immediately?
      “There have not been many such situations before, where a tournament-winning goal is scored as a sudden death goal in overtime”, Fonselius says.
      When Sidney Crosby scored the golden goal, the game was done and dusted, and the wild victory celebrations by the Canadians commenced right there and then, while the Americans hung their heads.
      According to Fonselius, nobody bothered to ask him about the puck.
      Usually, after important games all the essential paraphernalia is collected immediately, but this time around the IIHF failed to follow the normal procedure.
     
Fonselius insists that the puck that he returned is the genuine article.
      “One hundred per cent sure. It was the only puck that I had.”
      At important tournaments the officials are given pucks beforehand that are nearly identical to those used in the matches.
      “That is our thing. We don’t start collecting the game pucks into our own pockets.”
      “Anyway, I have the officials' gold medal. That is the most important memento, the one that has true value for me”, Fonselius continues.
      Fonselius, 33, has acted as an international hockey referee for ten years.
     
For a first-timer officiating at the Olympic ice hockey tournament, making it to the final as a linesman was the experience of a lifetime.
      “It was immense. And the game itself was the best possible. Two ice hockey giants with the strongest rosters on the ice, and to top it all such a thrilling climax. It was an utterly fantastic game.”
      Fonselius, who stopped playing ice hockey with the Turku-based Kiekko-67 team as a teenager, has received only positive feedback from the gold medal puck stir.
      “This is all to the good, because my intention was never to cause any trouble. It might be fun to go and take a look at such a famous puck one day, knowing that it has even visited my home”, says Fonselius, Finnish linesman, Kaarina husband and father, and now Canadian national hero.
     
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 7.4.2010


Links:
  This YouTube clip shows linesman Stefan Fonselius picking up the winning puck from the USA net after Sidney Crosby´s winning goal

RIITTA KOIVURANTA / Helsingin Sanomat
riitta.koivuranta@hs.fi