The Career of Esa Tikkanen
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- čas přidán 24. 11. 2017
- He was controversial, but he was also greatly enjoyed by players and fans alike. He won five Stanley Cups over his career.
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He should make the HOF if only for the story about the time during a Kings/Oilers series where Tikk was assigned to shadow Gretzky.
He really managed to get under the Great One's skin, sticking to him like glue everywhere he went... culminating early one morning in LA where he showed up at Gretzky's house, got let in by Janet, and was found having coffee in the kitchen when Wayne came downstairs for breakfast.
Buckburger was far better then Esa at that role, and once he was tried as Gretzky's shadow, they kept with him.
@@Ace96x10 Still a damn good story.
@@eddixon2015 Agreed Ed)
Gretzky totally thought he was having that same nightmare again!
Pidä pää pystyssä, koko ilta tulee!
"Pelaaks se Selänne täällä?"
"Pelleilet viel kerran vittu ni mä vedän sut niin pystyyn saatana!"
"Vittu mä tuun pitää sua!"
@@jeanayman7574 "Eiköhän viesti mennyt perille jo"
Mikä se video nimi oli missä se sanottii tuollee
Tikkanen scored some huge goals for the Oilers in the playoffs!
Remember hearing a story about Tik when he was with the Oilers. A team mate said what made Tikkanen so frustrating to play against was his constant chatter including swearing at you. The opposition player kinda knew he was being insulted, but was never quite sure...."What did he call me?" That combined with Tik's smile/smirk laugh drove them crazy.
He was famous for scoring more in the playoffs. When asked about it he said "I'm not wasting goals during the regular season because we need them in the playoffs." What can you expect from a guy who wins youth championship, Finnish league championship, gets called to the NHL in the middle of Stanley Cup playoffs and wins there. All in the same spring one after another. There's not another player like this guy and he's a legend
Edmonton had lots of those who increase their level of play during the playoffs. Tikkanen and Anderson just to name the 2 key guys.
@@11DNA11 and now they have 2 guys that get lost in the playoffs and are said to be some of the best in the world. who would figure lol.
#7 at Hockey's most irritating playoff pests. 877 regular season games with 244 goals, 186 playoff games with 71 goals. He was a BEAST in the playoffs! Tiki was the Finnish version of Claude Lemieux, except, Tiki was not dirty, just REALLY irritating. Legendary hockey player!
He did pull some dirty tricks from time to time. Slashing Lindros, kneeing Brodeur to the head come to mind.
I don't care about Brodeur getting knee'd in the head, he was an asshole through and through.
Interviewer: "You have so many goals, what is your favourite?"
Gretzky: "Hasn't happened yet, but a game winning goal in the playoffs with a reflection from the buttocks of Tikkanen."
And I think that was with Tikkanen on the opposing team!
A superb analysis. I laughed most of the time. Even most Finns hate him talking 4-5 languages at the same time.
That's the great thing about Tikkanen - the greatest gift of Tikkanen, I guess - every time I hear of him, watch his plays, even think of the guy... I end up laughing.
I love Esa he was the ultimate thorn in every opponent's side,I can think of only 1 other player who was a pain yet was not a dirty player and that is Kenny Linsmen.
I remember him doing an interview in St louis. My dad watched it and said "He just seems like a fun guy. Just loving life."
And loving hockey
Maybe the best agitator of all time. LOVED him when he was on the Rangers. I can't count how many penalties he drew by trying to kiss other players. hahahahahahaha
As far as an agitator goes he is no Claude Lemieux. However Esa was a pure bawler, a legend, & with a rocket cannon slapper.
@Yo Holmes Dude Tikkanen was more of an agitator than Claude. Read up on some of his antics on AND off the ice. He once showed up to Gretzky's house and was eating breakfast with Wayne's wife when Wayne was on the Kings lol.
He was special, that's for sure. During the 90's A dear friend of mine had a a brother-in-law who was the sales manager for Anheuser Bush, and we would help him with in between periods promotional things with the Bud Girls. We went saw a lot of N. Y. R. hockey for several years. It was fantastic, snd of course, game 7 in the finals. point is this... We were invited to a Stanley Cup party with the team that night. Unfortunately for Frank and I, Steve, the Sales Manager's son had a final exam the next morning so being that we all drove in together from Long Island, we all had to leave together. Now, enter Esa Tiek. Some time around 1am, Esa takes the Stanley Cup from the party out in the middle of 5th ave with all the traffic and everything comes to a stop. He was being Esa after several cocktails and enjoying the Cup with some of the residents of Manhattan. Don't remember everything, but I was told later on that we missed a hell of a party. when we had seats down low, and not in the Suite, you could hear Esa talking to several players. He was fun to watch, no doubt about it. He was tough as well, ss you pointed out. Happy New Year. I enjoy your work. JD
Great video about one of my favourite hockey players of all time. Tikkanen had a great career in NHL. People say he won all those cups in Edmonton because of Wayne Gretzky but if we have to speak the truth, Gretzky never won the cup and Tikkanen won two.
"Tiki" was one of the first true two-way players from Finland to play in NHL and he didn't shy away from rough plays. As a young junior league player, Tikkanen was a phenomenal player who could dominate the play on ice with his strong skating. Tiki played with Regina Pats organization in the WHL for one season.and after that he broke through to HIFK team which he helped to win one Finnish championship.
After his career in NHL Tiki played with Jokerit which was the club he played for when he was a little boy. Jokerit almost won the Finnish championship that season. Tiki played for Essen Moskitoes in the German DEL league for one season. His last years were plagued by his personal problems. Tikkanen's marriage broke down during his final NHL years and he had an alcohol problem during his final playing years in Finland and Germany.
After Tikkanen retired he was seen randomly in Finnish television broadcasts as a commentator in hockey games. Tiki would make a bit of a comeback when he was contracted by South Korean Anyang Halla team in the Asian Hockey League (not Austria :D). Tikkanen was player-coach for the team that year and after that he would coach Frisk Asker in the Norwegian League for one season. Tikkanen had his final coaching job with Jokipojat in the Finnish Mestis (the second highest level of hockey in Finland) in 2010-11 season.
Tikkanen has then worked as a hockey expert for unibet and is hosting NHL trips for Finnish hockey fans.
Thx for the great video. My favourite player of all time. I remember when he came play to Finland during the lockout 94-95 and there was this really hot Helsinki rivalry where Christian Ruuttu got his teeth knocked in. Tikky and Ruuttu played for HIFK and Selänne and Kurri for Jokerit. After the game there was around 60 people waiting for Tikky to exit the arena to get his autograph. Ruuttu managed to get out without much of a hazzle, but when Tikky showed his face, oh boy, that bunch just went berserk and started off towards him. He managed to give one autograph and had to escape back inside arena to find quieter exit. Not sure whether it was same match, defenetly same year, Selanne was quite pissed at Tikky over something he said. Guess it was normal Tikky yapping. Great stuff!
Jedicat94 it was Sami Wahlstens stick that knocked Ruuttus teeth out!
Yeah, I remember when the Liiga mic'd up the players (for the first time, I think) Selanne and Tikkkanen were ending their shifts, respectively, and Selanne shouting across the ice to the HIFK bench, something like, "Speak ****ing Finnish, Tikkanen!" He sounded very upset.
I remember Tikkanen playing for the Blues. There was some chemistry with Brett Hull that wasn't fully realized because Mike Keenan couldn't ever stick with any lines or even sometimes players.
Yeh, Keenan's Blues was such a mess
This is such an underappreciated video. Excellent stuff.
great vid. one of my fave players of all time.
Fantastic video in conception and execution. Especially the finale where Tik get inducted into the THG Hall of Fame. Nicely done!
Nice vid Shannon, and I like the rangers gear today 👍🏻
Esa was such a dawg! The dude was absolute mac truck, prickly as a Georgia thornbush, with an absolutely rocket cannon slapshot. The epitome of " No wins without Finns " . I remember several slappers in the high corners that went in and out and the goal jidge never flipped the switched it was so fast. I even remember him shooting through the net once with a similar shot. Dude is a flat out winner and one of the straws that stirs those mixed Cup drinks.
Thank you. That was awesome!
Kiitos👌Terveisiä Suomesta!
Tiki is a Personality👊
I love his attitude to life, be brave face the day and dont give up.
No matter if someone laughs at you that you cant do it.
He worked hard to get those 5 rings and great career.
Many loved him some dont but what a legend in NHL not an easy task for guy from 🇫🇮 in eighties
He absolutely should be in hall of fame.
Loved watching Tikkanen play
Revisiting this video annually!
Tikkanen lived in Sweden with his Swedish wife, and only spoke her language at home. "Tikkanese" was a combination of Finnish, Swedish, Canadian, and his delightfully twisted sense of humour. Legend.
to be honest, Tikkanen never REALLY lived in Sweden, probably spent summer holidays there. Tikkanen played finnish SM-liiga in HIFK (Helsinki) prior to his NHL career :)
pelas yhen kauden jokereissa ja sitte tikin nro 5 jjääädytettiin =)
?
@@soppa1973 Ja se oli suurin vitsi koko SM liigassa. Jokeri kasvatti toki, mutta yksi kausi ja paita kattoon. Luultavasti oli vaan ihan vittuilua IFK:lle
rigosmortimus ja vielä väärä numero
The Oilers need another Esa Tikkanen
They got now Pulju-talk
Tikkanen was 2nd to None ! His Upbringing was something different - that Made Him to play as TEEMU SELANNE !
They got Zack Kassian
He also did a couple years as a player/coach in South Korea in the early 2000's. I got to watch Canada beat Finland in a WC game with him in a Seoul pub at 4 am.
Great video!
I remember that '97 run for the Rangers; Tikkanen was actually a very good player. He scored an OT winner that required replay because the shot was so fast.
The one that hit the camera? When people thought he hit the crossbar?
11DNA11 yup that one!
I remember that goal. I was in the States as a 17 year old - and I'm Finnish, this should be noted here - and I was going crazy when he scored that goal. But silently. Coz there were these crazy rules about "tv time", which I couldn't really believe existed until I got across the Atlantic. Anyways, I figured hockey's not tv and broke the rule (of 1 hour per day, I guess) all the time and increasingly so, come playoff-time. So, I was jumping up and down on my toes - NOT quite like Ali - when I saw the replay and realized it went in. See, I didn't want anybody to hear I was downstairs watching hockey again. Ah... to be young again. I think I managed about 8 hrs of school, 6 hrs of homework and 6 hrs of hockey during those playoffs, on average and pretty much every single day. It was pure heaven and hell - and I loved it. I think I only really slept on weekends, but who cares when you've got hockey? This was the first time I got to watch a lot of games. They showed a few games in Finland, but it was more like a special treat than anything regular. And I think that OT winner by Tiki was ONE OF THREE in the series against the Panthers. I could be mistaken, it may also be 1 of 3 in the playoffs. But I remember the commentator saying something like, "There goes Tikkanen again, with that overly heavy shot of his. The only question is - why doesn't he use it more often in the regular season?!" I think Hockey Guy already answered that one in the video. Also, THAT GOAL was with no screen and against John Vanbiesbrouck, who was considered to be one of the best goalies in the league and world back then. The play went on because nobody but Tikkanen realized it went across the goal line. He followed the ref around the rink and kept yapping at him. Not unlike... uh... well, Tikkanen, I guess.
You nailed it, in a indirect manner. Everyone inc me, remembers him for the Tiki-talk and all the stunts. But he was for a few seasons a 30-goal scorer WITH all the funny stuff. It's all about perspective, isn't it? Anyway, I love your stuff, a huge thank you, Shannon!
Tikkanen approves this 👍🏻
Great stuff bro!
Tikkanen and Jantta Alkio (finnish play-by-play commentator) just made a podcast about his playing career. From pee-wee to retirement. It was about 11 episodes and every episode was about 50min long. So there was lot to talk about!!!😁
Oh shit, I gotta see this!
Just love this. Been all in "Tiki" fan all my life i've followed hockey as a fan and also as a player. Had an opportunity to talk with him when he was coaching Jokipojat -team back in Finland and still he was carrying his all rings with him wherever he went. Just class #1 as a one of the stanley cup play offs player of all time from europe.
Did you understand a word of what he said? Even Jari Kurri had issues understanding Tik
@@Clutch28 actually his finnish is totally understandable but while he was playing In the NHL he used to mix finnish, english and swedish in one sentence so that made tikkanese so hard to understand 😀
@@riffsi His English is fairly good as well. But I think you missed the point, which was it was supposed to be a joke cause no one understands Tikk
@@Clutch28 :D
Don't forget that during the 94 playoffs against Vancouver.
Bure was a thorn on the Rangers through games 4-6. Keenan asked Tikkanen that if he could shadow Bure around in game 7. Tikkanen did and the Rangers won the Cup. And Bure was not visible in that game 7 whenever Tikkanen was on the ice.
He did draw a penalty and Bure scored during it.
Awesome piece on one of my favorite guys. Takes a lot for me to like an Oiler OR a Ranger. Teek was the best. I'd like to nominate a guy for either a retrospective piece or the HGHOF... or both: Theoren Fleury (the greatest player of all time).
Love that Esa Tikkanen, best pest of all time. Kissed a guy on the lips to piss the guy and the team off, it worked too.
I'm from Germany and have been following the NHL for 2 years now. I know most of the legendary players but I've never heard of this guy before and he has 5 goddamn cups lol. Thanks to THG I'm gonna check out his highlight reel immediately. Nice name btw.
And people are up in arms when Marchand does the same thing.
HE did that many times and drew so many penalties that way. hahahahahahahahaha
Marchand is Tikkanen 2.0
@@dereklepiesza5022 Nah, Tikkanen didn't have to do dirty plays to piss them off. What Marchand has been doing with Kronwall, Dotchin etc. Marchand is more like a Dale Hunter then.
He was a very effective player, and huge in the clutch
Have to mention Tik's big OT winner in the last great series (imo) of the Battle Of Alberta ..the fact the Oilers came back to win that game on the road was the last great glimpse of the dynasty era team (minus Gretzky)...also if possible could you do a retrospective on on of all time favortie non Oiler players ...Rick Tocchet
The ALH is the Asian Hockey League......ended up in South Korea.
Tiki Tiki... 2008 Whistler skiing and bartender give us free beers when heard we are from Finland and cheers Esa Tikkanen please welcome 💪
One of a kind,there will never be another player like him.An absolute legend and the funniest player to watch on ice through his career both in finland and in nhl,he might have played in italy at some point for milan or maybe im just remembering wrong Kurri played for milan 1 season and maybe tiki did too or then it was austria or switzerland,cant remember for sure and cant be bothered to check.
@Tearjerker thanks for the info
IDK how i missed this one!!!Go Nords!!!
ONE OF MY IDOLS
ESA !!!!! Loved this guy when we had him #LGR
Do more videos like this.
Congratulations Esa on the indication into THG HOF!!!
In 1990, my girlfriend and I, as lifelong Canucks fans, wanted Tik to win the Conn Smythe. We married the following fall.
Grant Fuhr should have won the, Conn Smythe Trophy, his injury proved that some people can brighten up a locker room just by leaving.
@@matthewdaley746 Ya, well, our marriage lasted less than a year, so what did we know?
I stay away from those matters, though, I've never been married, and, at this late date, it's truly certain, it'll never happen.
I believe I saw his first game as a Canuck in person. 7-2 Canucks vs the Panthers. Tikks had 4pts that night.
One of the underrated...
He was my and my young wife's favourite player in the run of 1990. Easily a Conn Smythe candidate.
Interesting to hear your take on Tikkanen playing for Vancouver. Obviously living there gives you a insight for the situation. It's curious that I've never heard or read Esa credit the Canucks medical staff for fixing him up. According to Tikkanen it was Bob Kersee who got him back to shape after St. Louis doctors told him he'd never play hockey again.
Then again Tikkanen doesn't mention badmouthing Vancouver either so maybe it's a case of selective memory. He did recently say that the Canucks was the best team he ever played for to never win the Cup.
one of my favorite players. he IS funny!
LOL i love Tik; We could use a man like esa Tikkanen again; Hard to believe he has more cups than Gretz; He's in my Hockey Guy hall of fame;
And in Finnish league players understood like barely 40% of the things he said, im thinking he invented that language in Sims games
Esa Tikkanen, Charlie Huddy, Kevin Lowe, Andy Moog all still need to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Yes, never, inducted, an outside chance.
@@matthewdaley746 Kevin Lowe is a 2020 inductee.
@@OttawaNow That what I said when I wrote the word inducted, though, I'm sure the 1994, Cup, had a great deal to do, with, that.
Would you consider doing these for players that or more or less known for a bad goal, i.e. Steve Smith or Roman Turek?
Steve Smith bailed out an Oilers team that lost two Games by three goals each, Grant Fuhr also, would cost the Oilers in, 1982, and, 1989.
Hellyeah, one of my favs ! :) , Esa Tikkanen - especially, after he joined my STL BLUES🎵♖ in 96, 97?
Love that crazy fkr
Keenan came in to STL and started bringing in all the NY RANGERS : Tikkanen, Glenn Anderson, Stefan Matteau, etc..
Keenan's a fkng idiot.
Love that we got Tikkanen n Glenn Anderson tho during that time tho - early, n mid 90s
Tikkanen was a crazy... and skilled.. The fkr could skate like the wind,... and score... but had a knack for getting under ur skin... He was fun to watch..he was a warrior
Esa Tikkanen reminded me of the bullet from Super Mario Brothers lol
Tiki has always been excellent skater.
The CZcams Sean Avery is a more productive member of society than the NHL Sean Avery ever has been or ever will be.
Is he a Hall of famer? As a finnish person, I'd like him to be, but I don't know. He was a big part of one of the most dominant NHL dynasty ever.
kurri and selänne only fins
He should be. He wasn't particularly effective on the regular season, but come playoff time. Tikkanen shined. He's kinda like the Justin Williams of the 80's and 90's. He upped his game a 100% whenever he was in the playoffs.
Tikkanen was money for half a regular season in Vancouver in 95-96 where he ran highly effective PP with Mogilny. He came there from New Jersey Devils, where he played only 9 games with 2 assists. The Devils really struggled that season, coming off a Stanley Cup in 95, and I read a story about Tikkanen/Devils where the team got on the team bus after a loss. Tikkanen was in the back of the bus, everyone was all quiet, and he yelled "where is the pizza and the beer?" Jacques Lemaire apparently then said to Larry Robinson "he won't be here long." Apparently he didn't fit into the culture that Lemaire wanted for the team.
okyouknowwhatever
Lemaire was an asshole first of all.
And he basically ruined hockey for a decade with the stupid neutral zone trap.
I was always a fan of the Tik, particularly when he became a Canuck. Would loved to have heard him mic'd up during games, would have made watching him even better.
They mic'd up Tikkanen in Finland during the lockout season. It's mostly in finnish, but that's what you got with Tik czcams.com/video/h--1GGsh31g/video.html
Wait... How did Verbeek get into the HGHOF before Dave Andreychuk?
You literally spelled out the comedians last name and the subtitles spelled it wrong twice
I remember his last run with the Rangers. He was plenty dirty, but it was okay because he was "protecting" old man Gretzky.
Remember him that first year when he won the cup with only 3 playoff games. He had just come in the league and his team mates shaved his head as a initiation ritual. That bothered some young players but did not phase Tikkenan at all, he took it as a badge of honor. I remember his badly shaved bald head during that playoff season and his inspired arrogant play. Got to love the guy. Am a life long Oil fan, and with all the greats we have had, Tik is in my top 5.
That's because Finnish players were so, rare at that time.
6:56 I remember when Corey Perry did that to Semin.
Do a video on career of Ron Francis and Rob Brind’amour
Cheers for tikkanen entering the thg hhof. I await the day that the players give online acceptance speeches for this great honor!
He was a very effective player, at times a great one.
Tikkanen was also a 4-time Selke Trophy finalist.
Only thing I will remember about Esa Tikkanen's time with the Caps is him missing that damn open net against the Red Wings in Game 2 of the Finals >:(
Yup. As a Caps fan that’s all I’ll remember him for. Would have been a 1-1 series going back to the Caps so who knows 🤷♀️...jk we would have still gotten smoked
Thank you for missing the open net in Game 2 of the 1998 Stanley Cup Finals!
Sincerely,
Hockeytown (#LGRW)
Dave Zarvan yep, I remember
Sadly, I remember that too. Although I wanted Wings to win for Konstantinov, as a fellow countryman I was embarrased..
Tikkanen was a legend,He is what modern agitators try to be
Tiki is special even now i dont understand half of what he is sayin and i am a finn... :)
Why do you pronounce ”Esa” as ”Iisa”?
what s he doing now?
You should do one on Saku Koivu!
Esa was the ultimate team utility player! He could do it all, very good at everything, but excellent as being a teammate!
In his last season he played in Germany for the Moskitos Essen ..
Once you get your name on the Cup, you'll never be forgotten.
The Stanley Cup says: "Esa Tikkanen 5 times". Legend!
I loved having him with the Canucks. I stupidly thought he and Messier would help. Then 1998 happened.
Sean Avery couldn't do points tho. And Esa didn't do bad tackles as Avery did. Big difference all the way.
I will always remember him for his open net miss in the 98 finals
At least, he learned what losing the Final actually felt like, so, there's that.
@@matthewdaley746 a valuable experience, for sure.
@@WMUsiv1 Without, the bad times, you'll never appreciate the so, many good times.
@@matthewdaley746 a very good outlook. Though for me, I’m a Wings fan, so its very much a good memory
@@WMUsiv1 At least, you had another decade before the bad times would hit.
Next Lehtinen?
who is?
I don't know who else to ask, and I know it isn't very nice, but what in the Hell is the deal with Mike Krushelnyski (sic) and his wig? It's weird. Sorry to ask.
"1990/91 the oilers start to show some cracks in their team"
91/92 Oilers made the western conf finals
More like the New York Oil Hawks , they also had Larmer, Mateau and other black hawks
I wonder is there any other player who has won SC without any regular season game...🤔
Great video, and good candidate for your HOF.
But Tikkanen was a passenger on that Caps cup run.
He couldn't even score on that wide open net in Game 3, which would have prevented the sweep by Detroit.
Just ask the Russian Machine Never Breaks bloggers about it.
But he was a member of the only Capitals team to ever reach the Finals. He had five rings at that point. Whether he was producing on the ice or not, odds are he was giving inspirational speeches after every game which led to confused looks between players who had no clue what he was actually saying.
The Hockey Guy The Hockey Guy Haha! That might explain the sweep.
Wonder if the Caps kept Ranford around for that Cup run, hoping he was fluent in Tikkanese?
If you're talking about rats, you should talk about Howie Young. He was kind of a prototype for Ken Linseman.
Linseman though. He was the king rat.
Hi THG
So Esa was biggest troll in NHL history? Seeing hes role was "agitator" having a "trollish" style is like made for that role, not being dirty but insanely annoying is what snaps peoples. Even now when he is retired there is this one grill food commercial where he acts just like he did back in the days :D
Is he the only guy with Five Stanley cup wins who is not in the hall of fame?
Fluent in "Tikkanish".
Asian hockey league other than that all facts check up … great job ..
I think he played in the Asia League not Austria
Anyang Halla, Asia League
Let's bring him back to the Oilers
What is your Instagram?