Height: 5-11
Weight: 185
Shoot: L
Born: 25 Jul 1953, Pori Finland
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Regular Season & Playoff Scoring Record (key)
| year | team | |||||||||||
| 1975-76 | Phoenix | |||||||||||
| 1976-77 | Phoenix | |||||||||||
| Totals: |
• In January 1980, playing for Atlanta, shot a puck into the stands at The Forum against the Los Angeles Kings.
That puck was caught by a 12-year-old named Scott Surgent.
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Excerpts from Pro Hockey, WHA 1975-76 (by Dan Proudfoot)
When Team Canada 1974 played an exhibition game with the Finnish National team, Bobby Hull claimed he noticed a startling resemblance in the play of defenceman Pekka Rautakallio to that of his Winnipeg Jets teammate, Lars-Erik Sjoberg. That, in a word, was a compliment. Rautakallio, only 22, was the veteran of several seasons of international competition, and the only thing holding back the Phoenix Roadrunners from signing him was manager Bill MacFarland's concern that a Finn by himself in the deserts of Arizona could become an unhappy performer, over the length of an 80-game pro schedule. Then came word of another Finn, forward Lauri Mononen, 24, an outstanding shooter in the 1973 world tournament who missed the 1974-75 season with an injury. "Bringing two of them over seemed reasonable," says Roadrunner manager Bill MacFarland. They signed two-year contracts in January, 1975, and intended over the summer to work on their English in preparation for the culture shock. "There won't be any communications problem," says Roadrunner coach Sandy Hucul, "hockey is the universal language." |
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Excerpts from Zander Hollander Complete Hockey Handbook, 1976-77 (by Reyn Davis) One of five Finns who played Major League hockey in the 1975-76 campaign ... Made a big impression on in his rookie season, leading all Phoenix defensemen in points, 50, and efficiency rating, +25 ... A thinking man's hockey player ... Born in Pori, Finland, hometown of Winnipeg's Veli-Pekka Ketola ... Name translated means rock cliff ... Biggest and most trying adjustment in his first pro season was to the length of the schedule ... Snaps a hard wrist shot ... Speaks excellent English ... Dished out the hardest check thrown by the Roadrunners all season ... Very funny person. |
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Excerpts from Pro Hockey, WHA 1976-77 (by Dan Proudfoot)
If it were necessary to establish just one reason why Phoenix is singlehandedly establishing new frontiers in American-Finnish cultural relations, one would only have to state the name Pekka Rautakallio. His 11 goals and 39 assists, accomplished with ease while he performed his chores on defense, made him a crowd favorite in Phoenix. Pekka was used to making good impressions quickly, of course, because he played First Division in his native Finland at the age of l5. "After only one year in the league I'd put him right in there among the top four defensemen," says manager-coach Al Rollins. "That's in a class with J.-C. Tremblay, Pat Stapleton and Lars-Erik Sjoberg." |
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(c) Scott Surgent