FLEURY IN FINLAND
94/95 - TAPPARA TAMPERE

In 1994, the National Hockey League locked their players out for 103 days while the NHL Player's Association and the league were locked in a labour dispute. As a result, NHL players found alternatives to stay in shape. Europeans flocked home to play for club teams they had toiled with prior to careers across the atlantic. North American stars scattered across Europe as well. Many teams benifitted from these acquisitions through ticket sales, marketing, interest and of course on-ice product. Under short term contacts, most players dressed for only a handful of games prior the NHL/NHLPA agreement on January 11. Their stays may have been short but the likes of Tony Amonte (Fassa), Pavel Bure (Landshut), Vincent Damphousse (Ratingen Lowen), Doug Gilmour (HC Rapperswil), Jaromir Jagr (Kladno, Bolzano & Schalke) and Brendan Shanahan (Dusseldorf) filled arenas across Europe. Wayne Gretzky didn't join a European club but with former teammates and All-Stars, challenged clubs in 'friendly' matches.

In Finland, the likes of Teemu Selanne, Jari Kurri, Esa Tikkanen, Ted Donato and German Titov boosted the league. Kurri and Selanne, heroes in Finland, returned to Jokerit Helsinki and played twenty games each. Jokerit Helsinki took the Finnish title that season.

Calgary Flames star Theoren Fleury also decided to stay in shape during the lockout and left for Finland joining a struggling club, Tappara Tampere. When Fleury joined the club, they had only three wins and one tie in the first 18 games. Wearing #95, Fleury made his debut at home against JyPHT Jyvaskyla for the 19th game of the 50 game season. For the first game, Fleury's addition did not change the familiar result. Fleury scored a goal and added an assist on the other Tappara goal in the 3-2 loss. In the next outing, against the Kurri and Selanne lead Jokerit Helsinki, Fleury recorded three points (1g, 2a), but Tappara dropped the game 7-5. Tappara's slide continued, losing the next four games. Fleury had five points during the four games.

Entering his seventh game with the club, Fleury was quickly becoming a fan favourite in Finland as he had done in Calgary. His seventh game, and the club's twenty-fifth was against Ilves Tampere, another team at the bottom of the standings. Tappara succeeded in overtime, winning 2-1 with Fleury scoring the deciding goal. After a loss against TuTo Turku, Tappara tied JyPHT on the strength of a two goal performance by Fleury. In his final game with Tappara, Fleury recorded three points (1g, 2a) against HPK Hameenilinna, helping Tappara win their fifth game of the season.

Tappara went on to finish tenth in league standings with ten wins in fifty games. Fleury finished his ten game stint with 17 points (8g, 9a), 22 penalty minutes and was a plus-1. His point total was good enough for tenth on the team, while he led the squad in plus/minus with a plus-1.

Following the 2000/2001 Finnish season, Fleury's 17 points ranked him 133rd on the team's all-time scoring list.

GAME BY GAME LOG

Team Game # Versus

Result

Goals

Assists

Points

19 vs JyPHT

L, 2-3

1

1

2

20 at Jokerit

L, 5-7

1

2

3

21 vs K-Espoo

L, 1-5

0

0

0

22 at TuTo

L, 2-4

0

0

0

23 vs KalPa

L, 4-8

1

1

2

24 vs Ässät

L, 5-6

1

2

3

25 at Ilves

W, 2-1

1

0

1

25 vs TuTo

L, 2-3

0

1

1

26 at JyPHT

T, 3-3

2

0

2

27 at HPK

W, 5-1

1

2

3

Season Team

GP

G

A

PTS

PIM

+/-

94/95 Tappara Tampere

10

8

9

17

22

+1






1994/95 | Home
Hosted by www.Geocities.ws

1