Eurolanche

Sami Aittokallio´s Introduction

Sami Aittokallio was born almost 21 years ago in nice Finnish city Tampere. He started his career in local club Ilves Tampere, where he stayed until his departure overseas. Overall record shows 28 games between three seasons in first Finnish league (SM liiga) where he posted 6 wins with 2.77 goals-against average and .910 save percentage. Already at the age of 17 he played his first game in SM liiga during season 2010-11. Needless to say that Ilves isn’t really the top team in Finland and is more or less in the shadow of other city team Tappara.

Sami appeared in youth Ilves teams and also added couple of starts in second league team Leki, to where he was sent on loan to gather experience. He didn’t  say no to the national jersey either and was in squads of basically all youth Finnish national teams  Receiving the bronze medal in Youth World Cup Championship in 2010 in Belarus, where he was a backup goalie to the one year older Joni Ortio.

Couple of months before above mentioned Youth World Cup (summer 2010) he was chosen as a future prospect of Colorado Avalanche. Sami was picked in the 4th round and on 107th place overall in 2010 entry draft. He was picked as number one from European goalies from the list (7th drafted goalie overall). When his 2 years contract in Finland came to an end, he signed new 3-years contract with Avs dated 11.5.2012.

In the current season he is goaltending together with Calvin Pickard (2nd choice of Avs in the 2010 entry draft and 49th overall) for AHL team Lake Erie Monsters. In AHL he played so far in 26 matches and got 14 wins with individual stats 2.89 goals-against average and 0.903 save percentage.

Sami´s famous day though was on 9th April 2013. That day he was called up to the first team due to injury of Semyon Varlamov. Just two days after that, he had his debut in NHL against LA Kings. He became the second youngest debuting goalie in Avalanche history (after Marc Denis), but unfortunately didn´t finish the game. He had some very impressive saves, but had to be substituted by J.S. Giguere for rather unusual cause, dehydration. However he shouldn´t be ashamed of his first NHL game as he stopped some promising shots and has proven that he is very talented young goalie.

Scouts and experts agree especially on one thing; Sami is typical young Finnish blood with all its pros and cons. He has quick feet, a lanky frame, and an athletic base to his butterfly. Presenting competitive and aggressive edge and skating style (shuffles instead of t-pushes) that is currently the strategic blueprint of Finland.

So with a bit of luck in unfortunate circumstances, Sami had his debut. This situation put on hold criticism that Avs were receiving in last couple of years for lack of developing young goalies. The good news is that Sami is back and healthy and we hope to see him in NHL again. He impressed lot of fans and experts with his style. But what kind of support he receives from the Avalanche and goalie consultant Kirk McLean, continues to be the biggest question mark in terms of Sami realizing his true potential.