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Bench Pioneer - Jan. 27 2025 - Vol. 78 Issue 7 - Risto Pakarinen

(PHOTOS FROM ALPO SUHONEN’S ARCHIVES)

FORMER COLLEGE PLAYER and art collector Mike Smith entered the NHL in 1976 as the New York Rangers’ assistant coach and GM John Ferguson’s assistant. He had a PhD in Russian studies and travelled so much in the Soviet Union that local hockey people simply called him ‘Misha.’

Alpo Suhonen and Smith got to know each other at the 1982 World Championship in Helsinki, when Suhonen was Finland’s assistant coach in the stands and Smith was Team USA’s assistant coach. Both were art lovers and readers, and they quickly became friends.

When Ferguson left the Rangers and took over the Winnipeg Jets in 1978, Smith followed him to the Jets as an assistant GM. And when Ferguson was fired in 1988, Smith took over as GM.

A year later, when he wanted to make a change to the coaching staff, the ripple effects reached even Finland. Dan Maloney was let go, and Smith made Rick Bowness, the coach of the Jets’ AHL affiliate Moncton Hawks, the new bench boss in the NHL.

“I invited Rick Bowness from the farm team, but I needed a coach there for the rest of the year,” Smith said. “That time of year, most coaches are working, but I knew Alpo’s team had missed the playoffs in Finland. I called him up.”

On Feb. 10, 1989, the Jets sent out a press release titled “Suhonen Takes Over in Moncton.” To introduce the unknown Finn, the Jets turned to more established NHL names:

“Alpo is a real people person,” said Hartford Whalers coach Larry Pleau. “He has a good grasp of the game and is great, whether dealing with the players as a group or on an individual basis.”

Added Boston Bruins assistant coach John Cunniff, a friend of Suhonen’s: “Alpo masters the English language, and he knows the game as well as any other coach I’ve ever dealt with.” Pleau had invited Suhonen to attend the Whalers camp in 1982 and 1983 on Cunniff’s suggestion.

“He knows the game inside and out,” said Edmonton right winger Jari Kurri, a fellow Finn and an integral part of Suhonen’s U-18 Team Finland that won the European Championship in 1978, giving Finland its first title ever. “He doesn’t have to demand respect. He just naturally receives it. Suhonen is very good in dealing person to person.”

Smith said that Suhonen was simply the best choice. “When we had the chance to bring in one the best coaches in Europe, the decision was easy.”

Suhonen packed his bags and flew to New Brunswick full of optimism and confidence. The door to the NHL had been cracked open.

“I arrived in Moncton late at night, and when I came to the rink for the first practice the next morning, I was met with hordes of reporters who had come there to see what the fuss was about and who the first European-trained head coach in a North American hockey league was,” said Suhonen with a laugh.

While the rest of the world was buzzing about Salman Rushdie’s new novel, The Satanic Verses, and the subsequent “fatwa” laid upon him by Ayatollah Khomeini, the religious leader of Iran, the Moncton Times-Transcript pulled in readers with a color photo of the new coach of the town’s hockey team.

Thanks to his fluent English and charisma, Suhonen quickly got the press on his side. He said he was happy to be the league’s first European coach, but that he wasn’t out to change Canadian hockey. He added that he actually liked the physical side of the game.

“I want us to hold on to the puck in the offensive zone, but when we lose the puck, I want to see an aggressive and physical defense,” he said.

Markku Kyllonen, the only Finnish player on the Hawks, was confident. “He must learn who is who,” Kyllonen told The Hockey News. “Everything is different between here and Finland. The only thing that is the same is the stick and the puck. Man to man, it’s very tough here. There is a big adjustment. I trust Alpo. He is really a great coach.”

And then came the attacks. CBC commentator Don Cherry questioned the choice and said famously, “Alpo? Isn’t that a dog food?” Suhonen didn’t give Cherry’s comments any oxygen, and even Cherry said afterward that Suhonen seemed to be a nice guy. “Besides, he won his first game, 8-2.”

That win against Cape Breton wasn’t the first game Suhonen saw in Moncton, but it was the first one he coached. He let player/assistant coach Ron Wilson coach the first one, assisted by forward Mark Kumpel, who was sidelined due to an injury. Suhonen spent the first game watching and scouting his own team.

No matter how polite or humble the Finn seemed to be, even the home fans seemed wary of him. To put it mildly.

“To come here to coach as a European, and be the first one, brings out a lot of feelings in some people,” said Suhonen to the New York Times, who spelled his last name “Sunonen” throughout the article.

At the time, Suhonen had been behind the Hawks’ bench for seven games, with a 3-4-0 record. “To my face, no one has said anything, but I can feel it in the air,” he told the Times.

He didn’t just feel it in the air. He felt it on his head, shoulders and back whenever the fans threw beer on him from the stands. “I used to keep two, three jackets in the coaches’ room so that I could change into a clean and dry one for the next period,” he said.

Suhonen’s safety was so threatened that the Hawks placed an armed police officer behind the bench in case a crazed fan decided to attack the coach. Then again, the officer could only protect him in the rink. What if someone wanted to teach him a lesson outside the arena? He had already been circled by a mob of drunken fans once after a game. That time, Suhonen managed to get into his car and drive away.

ALPO SUHONEN & RISTO PAKARINEN

(PHOTO COURTESY OF RISTO PAKARINEN)

“A reporter in the local paper pulled me aside one day and told me that I probably didn’t realize what kind of danger I was in,” Suhonen said.

The reporter drove Suhonen to a house on the edge of town and introduced him to two brothers who coached local boxers – and other tough guys.

“It didn’t take long for me to understand that we were in a grey area. The reporter explained my situation to them, and they gave me a number to call if I needed help. They even told me to write it on my hand so that I’d always have it nearby,” Suhonen said.

When Suhonen took over the Hawks, he came to a team with a winning record.

“We have a good team down there,” Smith said. “We feel we can win the Calder Cup, and I didn’t want to hire a guy who would come in and try to put his own stamp on the team, move people around and mess up what we think is a good situation.”

After Suhonen’s first month in Moncton, the team’s record was 37-34-9, but Suhonen’s record was 7-13-3. “The team was not in great shape,” Suhonen said.

Unfortunately for Suhonen, the Hawks were also a team decimated by injuries.

ALPO SUHONEN, TEPPO NUMMINEN & TEEMU SELANNE

“They said it was Alpo’s fault, but we were down to 12, 13 guys,” Kumpel told the Winnipeg Free Press. “Guys like me and Ronny Wilson were playing 35, 40 minutes a night. It was crazy. Everybody just really pulled together, and we’re playing great, disciplined defensive hockey.”

All in all, Suhonen’s record in the regular season was 8-14-4. When the Jets didn’t make the NHL playoffs, there were rumors that Bowness would return to Moncton for the AHL playoffs. Smith denied that, and Bowness was instead assigned to scout the NHL playoffs.

The Hawks finished third in their division and met the Quebec Nordiques’ AHL affiliate, the Halifax Citadels, in the first round. Despite all the setbacks, two months had been enough for Suhonen to prepare his team for the playoffs. The Hawks swept the Citadels.

“This is Alpo Suhonen’s team, and believe me, Suhonen is a great strategist,” wrote Pat Connolly, the prominent Nova Scotia sportswriter.

The Citadels tried to intimidate the European coach – even by firing shots at Suhonen, who was watching their practice – and his players, but it didn’t work.

“Muscle toughness is one thing, but it’s a lot harder and it takes more discipline to have mental toughness,” Suhonen told the Moncton Times-Transcript. “We’re not afraid to get hit and stay with the puck. We are taking all of the hits so we can make good plays.”

The Hawks bowed out in the second round, but Smith was pleased with what he saw.

“He did a really good job,” Smith said. “It was an eye-opener for Alpo. He saw how competitive the players were. It was all very different than coaching in Finland or Europe. The players really wanted to play for him.”

In the summer, Smith’s Jets made Suhonen the first European-trained assistant coach in the NHL.

(PHOTO COURTESY OF RISTO PAKARINEN)

Translated and adapted from Alpo, Alpo Suhonen’s recent biography, by its author, Risto Pakarinen