A day that started with a raffle in Turku turned into the kind of youth-hockey memory that sticks for a long time.
Brothers Kasper and Viktor Smith won their way into a meet-and-greet with Kraken forward Kaapo Kakko, a hometown hero of sorts for the pair and for plenty of other young players from HC TPS. More than 300 TPS youth players had applied for the chance to attend the event, and only 20 were selected. For the Smith brothers, the prize came with open practices for both Seattle and Carolina, plus a close-up look at Kakko in a private suite at Veikkaus Arena.
Kasper, 6, wasted no time getting his questions in.
“He asked me what school we go to,” Kasper said. “And he asked me how old I was and then I told Kaapo Kakko that he looks super young.”
Viktor, 8, had his own request ready.
“I asked him if I could have his stick.”
Kasper wasn’t done there, either.
“I asked him whether I could have one of the sandals he was wearing.”
That led to a brief back-and-forth between the brothers over who had actually asked for the sandal. Neither walked away with the footwear, but both did get autographs, including Viktor’s on his TPS wool hat.
The visit carried extra meaning because Kakko is one of their own in the eyes of TPS. He came up through the same organization, and the kids had already heard the stories. When he walked into the suite unannounced, a few players near the front reacted with wide-eyed surprise, and one of them bolted into the lounge area to spread the word.
From there, Kakko was quickly surrounded.
“It is very important for all of them,” said Emmi Partanin, a communications specialist handling publicity for TPS who joined the players on their visit. “A lot of them want to play in the NHL, so to meet a player like him who once played for their teams, it means a lot.”
Kakko’s connection to the youth players went beyond the meet-and-greet itself. He donated the tickets and transportation for the group to attend the open practice, and he is also discussing potentially bigger ventures with NHLPA Goals & Dreams, the NHL Players’ Association charity fund that helps players direct money to youth organizations from their hometowns.
TPS, meanwhile, is a major pipeline in Finnish hockey. The organization runs youth programs for players ages 7-to-15, along with junior teams and a squad in Finland’s top Liiga professional circuit. Kakko spent two pro seasons there before becoming the No. 2 overall pick of the New York Rangers in 2019.
He’s far from the only TPS product to reach the NHL. Among the 16 other former TPS players who made it are Saku Koivu, Mikko Rantanen, Juraj Slafkovski, Miikka Kiprusoff and Sami Salo.
After spending about 20 minutes signing autographs and talking with the kids, Kakko made it clear the moment meant as much to him as it did to them.
“These are the things that I love to do,” Kakko said. “Like, when I was young, I was looking up to these (NHL) guys.
I feel like I’m nothing special. But then when I come here and there’s a lot of kids looking up to me, it just feels crazy.”
He added: “It’s so easy for me just to walk up here after practice and talk to them a little bit. Then you see the look on their face and that’s the best thing about doing this.”
For Kasper and Viktor, the practice itself was almost as memorable as the conversation. Watching NHL players from close range gave them a chance to study the pace and habits of the game they want to reach someday.
“I learned about how hard they pass the puck,” Viktor said.
Kasper noticed something else: the way the Kraken respond when head coach Lane Lambert blows his whistle.
“They go straight there,” he said of the Kraken players.
The sandals never came home, but the lesson did.
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