Interview With Ryan Lannon

I am a very lucky girl! I got to interview handsome Ryan Lannon last Saturday night. And who is he, you might ask. He is one of the defense men on KalPa's team. He is an American and he joined the team here in Kuopio early 2011.

When I interviewed Ryan, KalPa had just finished a game against team from Turku called TPS. KalPa won of course and is now number one in the league. Ryan is injured and couldn't play but he seemed to be in good spirits though. Here's me with Ryan. All the other pictures of him in the KalPa jersey are from KalPa-hockey's webpage, and the one without a shirt is from Iltalehti.


The reason I wanted to interview Ryan, was to get some insight how he sees the hockey in Finland and Europe compared to the USA. Ryan used to play in the lower league of NHL called AHL in the USA before coming to Finland. He played for such teams as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, San Antonio Rampage and Houston Aeros.
Ryan said that the biggest thing for him was to adjust to the size of the rink. Kuopio has a huge rink compared to the NHL standard smaller rink. Ryan said that he is not a fast skater and that made difficult for him to keep up on the ice because there was so much of it. But in my opinion Ryan has adjusted very well and he plays good, clean games (*no stupid penalties*). He also said that Finnish games get pretty physical, more so than games in other European countries. Ryan also mentioned that after coming to Kuopio and playing on the bigger rink, he has improved as a player more than ever on his career.


We also talked a little about the refereeing the games. I know the referees let the players fight more in NHL than in the Finnish league. Ryan didn't comment much on that but he said he doesn't like to say much about the calls refs make because he knows how hard of job refereeing is. He used referee games when he was younger and that taught him that it is hard for the ref always to see or know if player did do something or didn't do it, and if it was on purpose or not. So Ryan usually agrees with the referee's call. On a funny note, Ryan said that since he doesn't speak any Finnish, he doesn't understand what the Finnish refs are saying and he just usually skates a way (*laugh*).

Next I got Ryan to blush because I asked him about the male calendar that just hit the shelves on the 14th of October. In the calendar you can find the gorgeous KalPa players without a shirt in steamy poses. Ryan said that he would not have done the calendar in the USA but he figured he'll do it here because his friends and family won't see it.
Little did he know because now the Finnish media has been writing about the calendar in the tabloids. You can check out one of the articles with quite some yummy pictures on Iltalehti's webpage. So, Ryan said that thanks to the internet now days, his family and friends in the USA will end up seeing the pictures anyway.
I told Ryan that I have so many girl friends who don't like hockey but after seeing this calendar I think they will start to love it. Or what do you think ladies?

Sorry Ryan! I had to do this (*wink*).

Another reason I wanted to talk to Ryan, was to find out what he thinks about Kuopio. He said he likes living here. He has an apartment in the harbor and he spends a lot of his free time at home by reading books and playing guitar. Ryan actually taught himself to play guitar by watching videos on Youtube. That's pretty good! Maybe I should stop watching stupid crap on Youtube and learn something useful (*wink*)

When I asked Ryan if he has tastes the regional delicacies like kalakukko which is fish and meat wrapped in a rye pastry and then cooked for few hours, he made funny face and said that he considers himself pretty adventurous eater but he has not tasted kalakukko yet and he probably won't because it just sounds horrible. I tried to convince him that it is actually really good, especially when my dad makes it but I don't think he believed me. And I guess it is pretty hard because when you see a picture of kalakukko, it doesn't look so good.

But I swear, kalakukko is not that bad. Believe me, Ryan!

Maybe he hasn't tried all the Finnish foods but he has been in sauna and he likes it. So, that makes it all better. If you didn't know, all the Finns love saunas and they are pretty much sacred places. Most people have a sauna in their home and they use it every week. For athletes saunas are great because your sore muscles get to relax in the heat of the sauna.
Ryan also said he went to the local smoke sauna in Rauhalahti, Kuopio. He thought it was pretty nice. I told him to go there winter time when they have a hole cut in the ice and you can go swimming there after first getting hot in the sauna. If you didn't know, Polar bear club is also popular in Finland (*I'm not a member*).
Ryan also confessed that after coming to Finland he became addicted to coffee. He didn't drink it that much before but since everybody here drinks coffee all the time, he now needs his coffee fix before he goes on ice. So, third thing you learned about Finns today, they drink a lot of coffee (*not me, I hate it*).

Even though Ryan isn't old yet (he is born '82), I asked him what is he going to be when he grows up. Ryan laughed and said that he doesn't want to grow up anytime soon but everything depends on his hockey career. Maybe he wants to be a teacher and be able to influence young people. Or he might go to a business school. Ryan actually studied politics at Harvard University in the USA but he said his outlook on politics changed right after he started his studies because of the terrible 9/11 attackts.

Last we talked about traveling and if Ryan goes back to the USA often. He said he hasn't been there that much but he gets to go there this Christmas. The hockey league has a Christmas break and he will have enough time to go see his family. That is very nice! Who wouldn't miss their mom's cooking, especially Christmas time. Other than that Ryan said that he went backpacking last summer in Europe and he got to see Spain, Italy and Holland.

It was really nice to talk to Ryan. He is very polite, smart and funny person. I hope he will get better quick and be back on the ice soon! KalPa needs all its' players to keep the team number one. And for all those who just read this post and don't know anything about Finland besides the things mention here (fishbread, sauna, coffee, polar bear club), please don't think that Finland is a weird place to live in. It is not, it just sounds like one on this short post. I'm living here and even Ryan has signed for the next season with KalPa, so it can't be that bad of a place (*wink*).

Thank you so much Ryan for taking time to meet me!