Here's a great article on Denver goalie Sinuhe Wallinheimo. Since we were
discussing him earlier this week, I took the time to type this in.
Enjoy!
 
From the Minneapolis Star Tribune 2/16/95.
 
Headline:  For Denver goalie, the entire rink is his stage. Wallinheimo likes
            to incite opposition.
by Dennis Brackin, Staff Writer
 
Denver goaltender Sinuhe Wallinheimo relishes raising the ire of opposing fans
and players, which adds to the enticement of this weekend's games against the
Gophers and their goaltender, Jeff Callinan. A year ago Wallinheimo made 50
saves to help his club tie Minnesota at Mariucci Arena.
 
Wallinheimo performed to form, meaning he spent much of the game waving,
gesturing, and dancing. After one exceptional save he even spiked the puck.
Callinan was so disgusted by the antics that he skated the length of the ice
at the end of overtime to offer his personal review.
 
"He was so angry with me," Wallinheimo said this week. "I think he wanted to
fight me. He said some bad words to me, and he called me a sideshow."
 
Walliheimo has no problem with the description, or with Callinan being upset.
If anything, it is the desired effect. Just last weekend, Wallinheimo said
gleefully, he did the wave with North Dakota fans.
 
"Why did I do it?" Wallinheimo said. "Because I wanted to keep myself loose,
and that's the way to do it. It lets me have some fun, and concentrate."
 
Wallinheimo obviously is not your typical college hockey player, a
characterization that extends off the ice as well. He returns to his home in
Vantaa, Finland, each summer and takes up his other passion: music.
Wallinheimo is the lead singer of the rock band S.W. Heimo and the Hands; the
group cut it's first CD last summer and frequently plays to packed clubs.
 
That Wallinheimo has made a name for himself in American college hockey has
more to do with his goaltending talents than his offbeat personality. This
weekend 's games against Callinan matches the league's No. 1 statistical
goalie (Callinan) against No. 2 (Wallinheimo). Callinan, a senior is 16-7-3
and leads the WCHA with a 2.68 goals-against average. Wallinheimo, a junior,
is 12-5-1 with a 2.79 goals-against average.
 
"I want to beat Callinan badly," Wallinheimo said. "Not because of last year.
Because he's No. 1 in our league, and if you want to be No. 1, you have to
beat him."
 
First-year Denver coach George Gwozdecky admits he had "major concerns" about
Wallinheimo when he took the job. His initial impressions were based on
conversations with rival coaches and watching game tape.
 
"I thought 'holy mackeral, this guy is not helping matters for his team,'"
Gwozdecky said. "He was getting teams more enraged. But from talking with our
players before the season began, most of them didn't even know what he was
doing half the time."
 
Gwozdecky said he decided not to ask Wallinheimo to change his ways. "I think
he's tempered it a little," Gwozdecky said. "He knows how much he can do
without having an effect on his play. And I'm comfortable that he doesn't do
anything to taunt. He just enjoys being on stage, and some people react well
to that."
 
Wallinheimo, 22, was discovered by former Denver assistant Mike Gibbons, who
watched the goalie make 63 saves in a Finnish junior league game two seasons
ago.
 
He didn't play hockey until he was 11, his early childhood hobbies included
the violin and singing in a chorus. And he finds similarities between tending
goal and being lead singer of a rock band. "You have to sing alone, and you
play goal alone," he said. "You're with a group in both, but it's actually an
individual thing."
 
Wallinheimo says the rock band is merely a hobby, and hopes his future
includes the NHL.
 
The good news for the Gophers is that Wallinheimo is convinced he plays better
on the road. He praises Denver's fans, but admits he misses the "sieve, sieve"
chants and obscenities he hears in rival arenas.
 
"I hear 'sieve', and I turn and yell, 'I want more,'" Wallinheimo said. "It
turns me on. If they're yelling bad stuff at me and so on, they must be
noticing me."
 
Callinan will attest it is difficult not to notice. Even from the opposite end
of the rink.
 
Carol S. White                            BITNET: c-whit@uminn1
University of Minnesota        internet:[log in to unmask]
Office of the Registrar
(612) 625-8517                                    GO Gophers!!!