The way Joni Ortios to the hockey player was early mapped out. His father, Kai took him in Turku already as a small Boy, often in the ice rink. He was also in the cabin, and was immediately intrigued by the goalie equipment. Now and again he could also be a try – and it had happened to him.
“I fell in love with this Position, always wanted to be a Goalie,” said Ortio, today, 28-year-old. “My father did everything to dissuade me. He played in the highest and second-highest League in Finland as a defender. But I was stubborn enough to assert myself.”
The ZSC is 13. Team
Ortio has not regretted it. Thanks to the ice hockey he has seen much of the world. He played in Finland, Northern America, Sweden and Russia, the Swiss League is his eighth as a Pro, the ZSC Lions are 13. Team. Of the East Coast Hockey League to the NHL and the Russian KHL, he has seen it all. The shapes. In essence, he was a typical Finn, he says. But in the meantime he had become much more open and affable.
He made it up to Calgary in the NHL and fought there from 2013 to 2016 with the Swiss Reto Berra and Jonas Hiller. His Coach Bob Hartley with the ZSC-master trainer, 2012. “He is dividing the people, because he has such a hard line,” said Ortio. “Old-School. But I never really had problems with it. He is a good Coach, and the most Important thing is to stay true to his style.”
“The people are friendly and help you as best they can”Joni Ortio on his life in Switzerland.
Ortio is one of the 32 Goalies from Finland, who have played at least a game in the NHL. Switzerland comes in at 6. As he explains the seemingly never-ending source of Finnish top goalkeeper? “This is a question I’ve heard often,” he says. “The Goalies are coached from a very young age, to be specific. We have been taught the basics early on.” He was trained in Turku, among other things, from the legendary Urpo Ylönen, who also Miikka Kiprusoff brought out.
Is not often in the spotlight: Joni Ortio. Image: Keystone
Ortio came in three seasons and 37 games with the Flames, returned in 2016 to Europe, played two years in the Swedish town of Skellefteå and, most recently, in Podolsk, in a suburb of Moscow. “What relates to the life in Russia, I can’t complain,” he says. “The people are friendly and help you as best they can. But of course there is the language barrier.”
His wife not accompanied him to Podolsk, the away trips they made, of course. But the had not been as severe as feared. Teams from the greater Moscow area have many opponents in the vicinity. Only once traveled Ortio to China.
German shepherd and bull Mastiff
In Zurich, he who has two unequal dogs, a German shepherd and a French bulldog, in a tranquil world landed. The challenge is for him in his role: He is to give of the Gaps, the Lukas Flüeler to a free night. “When you play so rarely, you have to do the training like games,” he says.
It succeeds good for him, to preserve its shape. The 3:1 against Biel he repeated on Saturday in the fourth championship game for the third victory. If he plays, he shines. Its statistical values are excellent: of 1.51 goals against and 94,83 percent catch rate.
Reliable: The Finn is in ZSC-Goal is a safe value. Image: Keystone
Ortio says to his services: “I’m happy, but not satisfied.” A phrase that every Coach likes to hear. And he praises his teammates: “Every Time I played, it made me and the guys.”
He will continue to pull
The Swiss League is not only great Fun, not only the spectators, even the players. “It happens a lot on the ice, it goes on in a high Tempo up and down. It is similar in Sweden, if a track is less structured. But you can feel here the influence of the Swedish Coaches.”
With 28, he rates his chances again in the NHL to return, as low. “If not the opportunity, why?” he says. “But it is played a lot good hockey outside the NHL. And anyway, my focus is currently on Zurich.”
it is established that, he moves after this season. Because the Lions have with Flüeler/Waeber your Goalieduo for the next Winter. With performances like the one against Biel Ortio for further Engagements in Switzerland, is recommended. Maybe even in Biel, where Jonas Hiller back? He shrugs and says with a smile: “I have not harmed me so far, for sure.”
icebreaker – Hockey Podcast by Tamedia
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Created: 25.11.2019, 13:57 PM
