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jRuutu · 11-23-2018, 06:21 PM

[Image: Piggyback-Ride-On-Costume-Carry-Outfit-f..._large.jpg]

Few hours after Liam O´Callaghan shared his thoughts to the media about moving away from Seattle among other things, another former Riot defender - Ensio Kalju opened up and gave his take on some things, here is the unedited version from Kalju´s blog:

I read O´Callaghan´s article and all I could think of was: why did he not leave earlier? I could have had 50 points last year without having to piggyback him the final part of the season. Still, Liam leaving Seattle was not a massive surprise, I think he mentioned it directly or indirectly a few times in the past, one of those moments was in the last Texas game of season 43, we got outshot quite heavily and around halfway point of the second period, Texas scored 3-2 goal on PP, I heard Liam talk to himself: five more games, five more games. At the time I did not think too much of it, I thought he meant five more games left in the regular season, which was true and also understandable, long season behind us at that point, but now when I look back, could be that he was counting the games and days left in Seattle, that gave him the motivation to keep on going.

I personally never really could understand Liam, him being Irish and all that, but he has always been a talented hockey player, when I first joined the Riot roster couple years ago and saw him play in the training camp, I was really excited about the possibility of getting to play with him someday, that feeling soon went away when I actually got to play with him on the same pairing couple days later, he refused to hit anything, so I had to do all the heavy lifting out there.

Having said that, a player like Liam leaving Seattle is a big blow, especially when you combine him leaving to few other players leaving the Riot roster as well. Can´t remember and/or don´t know all the details on what happened behind the closed doors, so can´t comment too much on what happened first or what lead to some things happening or not happening. All I know is that I´m one of the players who left Seattle last off-season, so perhaps I can´t judge Liam that harshly or put the blame on him for Seattle´s downfall or my individual troubles, but I´m still going to try.

My time in Edmonton has been decent overall, team is winning and atmosphere in the team reminds me about Seattle in many ways, just like in Seattle, my mullet is the reason why I get bullied a lot, but also the comments on my stats have been brutal this year - just like during my rookie year in Seattle. Luckily I finally scored the first goal of the season, so that took some of the heat away. 16 points in 41 games is still not what I hoped to have after a solid last year, was hoping to be closer to 30 points at this point of the season, but I got a theory on why I have not been putting up as many points, it´s the mental and physical trauma caused by playing in the same pairing with O´Callaghan last season. I´m almost damaged goods right now, burned out and lost all of my creativity, 15 games with Liam is 150 for defenders in other pairs, so not only is Liam the reason behind one of the gaping holes in Riot´s blueline, he also caused a fairly talented offensive defender to start fearing the puck and to play like a defensive defender. Tragedy to all parties involved, players, teams, and fans.

What the future brings is totally unknown, multiple players from previous year Riot team is right now playing in other teams, giant what if is hanging over Seattle and the players who have left the team, will some players return to Seattle some day and finish what the first playoff run last year in a while started? We will see, someday...

(670)

Dangles13 · 11-23-2018, 06:27 PM

Will you sign my player card?

jRuutu · 11-23-2018, 06:34 PM

11-23-2018, 06:27 PMDangles13 Wrote:

Will you sign my player card?

Of course! Wink

jRuutu · 11-23-2018, 06:39 PM

karlssens · 11-24-2018, 03:50 AM

You might have 30 points if you stayed out of the darn box ya goof.
Let’s see if we can’t win ya a cup instead.

jRuutu · 11-24-2018, 06:45 AM

11-24-2018, 03:50 AMkarlssens Wrote: You might have 30 points if you stayed out of the darn box ya goof.
Let’s see if we can’t win ya a cup instead.

I´m a goon now , I can´t help it

SlashACM · 11-24-2018, 10:10 AM

Who's bullying you? I'll bully them back

jRuutu · 11-24-2018, 04:32 PM

11-24-2018, 10:10 AMSlashACM Wrote: Who's bullying you? I'll bully them back

It´s not with words or anything like that, but I can see it in the eyes of many players inside Blizzard locker room, the jealousy and hatred towards my supernatural ability to grow hair so fast and still keep it at mint condition without any effort Confused

SlashACM · 11-24-2018, 04:43 PM

11-24-2018, 04:32 PMjRuutu Wrote:
11-24-2018, 10:10 AMSlashACM Wrote: Who's bullying you? I'll bully them back

It´s not with words or anything like that, but I can see it in the eyes of many players inside Blizzard locker room, the jealousy and hatred towards my supernatural ability to grow hair so fast and still keep it at mint condition without any effort

I ain't jealous I appreciate you and your sick greasy celery

jRuutu · 11-24-2018, 06:12 PM

11-24-2018, 04:43 PMSlashACM Wrote:
11-24-2018, 04:32 PMjRuutu Wrote: It´s not with words or anything like that, but I can see it in the eyes of many players inside Blizzard locker room, the jealousy and hatred towards my supernatural ability to grow hair so fast and still keep it at mint condition without any effort

I ain't jealous I appreciate you and your sick greasy celery

Thanks, I´ll try to remember and pick the puck for you when you get your first shutout in SHL Cheers

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