50 years old | “Scared like hell”, Sami Helenius, known as a brawler, recalls his hockey career

Ice hockey coach Sami Helenius a weekday morning starts with a wake-up call at seven. At half past eight he is already at the Kouvola ice rink with a cup of coffee in his hand talking with the guardians of the SM league club KooKoo.

“I'm among my own again,” Helenius mumbles.

The former NHL hockey player returned as a full-time hockey professional in the summer of 2022 after a 12-year break. He was asked to join KooKoo's coaching group. Although he no longer jumps onto the rink to play, being part of the team brings excitement to life.

“Although I liked teaching as much as crazy porridge. Every day was different.”

When his playing career ended, Helenius first went to work as a school assistant for Kerava. After that, many years passed in temporary substitute teachers in Vantaa and Järvenpää. And now, when the coaching contract in Kouvola ends in the spring, Helenius keeps his options open.

It is said that the position of a technical teacher has become vacant at the school in Vantaa, and Helenius does not consider it impossible to return to the school now, even though “there have been adjustments in terms of coaching”.

FOR OCCASIONS Helenius has always been able to grasp. When he went to North America as a professional hockey player at the age of 20, the Canadian coaches were not impressed by the Finnish defenseman's playing skills, but by his size. The almost two-meter tall and hundred-kilogram young man was cast in a role where he had to fight.

In the very first season in the AHL team Saint John Flames, Helenius got 217 minutes on the ice.

Helenius had to be ready to drop the playing gloves and shake his fists throughout his career. Both in 155 NHL matches, where tough specialists of the field came up against, as in the last years of his career in the SM League, when the youngsters wanted to defeat a distinguished fighter.

“My dear mother has never been able to stand me fighting.”

Maternal to the question why, Helenius has had two answers: in his opinion, fights belong to hockey when they arise spontaneously in an emotional game situation – and personally, he would not have been able to have a professional career in the NHL in any other role. Fighting was his job.

He romantically states that “he wouldn't change a day”, but on the other hand he admits that he was afraid.

“It was scary as hell. Humans are emotional animals. Of course, it varied: sometimes there were seven men before the game. Sometimes it was just scary, especially in Finland.”

LAST YEARS Helenius has been in the public eye not only because of hockey, but also because of realit
y TV shows. In 2022, Helenius won Survivors Finland – competition.

“It was interesting to meet people from different fields.”

In addition, Helenius has spoken publicly about the substance abuse problem that started in the last years of his playing career.

“I started playing and fooling around with sleep buttons.”

In 2004, Helenius made a contract with Ilves and was alone in Tampere, the family lived in Järvenpää. The addiction continued even after his playing career. It became a habit to go to the sauna in the evening, take a couple of beers and sleeping pills.

“It was no longer for insomnia. It was just for fun. I had to get my head confused”, describes Helenius.

“The former lady tried to make me stop, but noticed my stubborn nature and pulled the white flag. But the new wife is a health professional. I didn't tell him about my problem right away, but he noticed: 'How can you fall asleep in bed at night in the middle of a sentence? What are you pulling?'”

Sami Helenius had to choose between love or addiction. He chose love. Picture: Pasi Kostiainen

Then had to choose: love or addiction. Helenius pushed himself away from the intoxicants and decided to tell about it publicly.

“Perhaps it can prevent young people from falling into the same cycle. However, I would argue that the young players are much more athletic and enlightened than in my time.”

HELENIUS has been doing odd jobs all his life. Game contracts, teacher substitutions, coaching contracts, all of them have been agreed for a year or two at a time. The future does not stress him and he does not dwell on the past.

No, although many people have come to ask over the years, for example, why hard-nosed goaltender Helenius couldn't get from the bench to the rink in the Finnish national ice hockey team's historically tragic World Cup match in 2003, when a 5–1 lead turned into a 5–6 loss. Sweden went to the medal games.

“When Teemu scored its three goals at the beginning of the match, I thought that there are not many boys from Jokela with a World Cup medal. But still not. I'm fine with that. The head coach made a decision.”

Nowadays, Helenius watches his sons' games especially closely. Sasu Helenius plays in the Suomi series in Järvenpää's Haukoi, he is a defender like his father. Signed an NHL contract with the Los Angeles Kings Samuel Helenius is a center forward. For the time being, the two-meter Helenius, who is currently playing for the AHL farm team Ontario Reign, continues his father's work and fights when the coach has incited him to do so.

According to Isä-Helenius, the first matches resulted in victories, until possible overconfidence led to carelessness and losses. It's been better lately.

“Yes, those boys learn and get stronger.”

• Born 1974 in Jokela.

• Ice hockey coach at SM league club Koovolan KooKoo. Coaching also in HC Keski-Uusimaa, Jokerei, KJT Haukoi and Estonian youth national teams, among others.

• As a player, 155 games in the NHL, 296 games in the AHL and 394 games in the SM league.

• School attendance assistant and teacher jobs 2010–2022.

• Won Survivors Finland – reality show 2022.

• Biography written by Jukka Suutari Sami Helenius, the seventh defender (2004).

• In marriage. Three adult children and one grandchild from a previous union.

• Turns 50 on Monday, January 22nd.

What would you tell your 20-year-old self?

“A little patience, son. Life is for living, and I have lived. But sometimes you could have thought a little more.”

>>