AMK goes RMJ

Saturday December the 2nd was an interesting day for the Ski-jumping club Testpush of Shed Street (later AMK after the Finnish name). This day the brave ski-jumpers of AMK travelled all the way to Rauma to visit the local club RMJ (Midsummer of the Sea of Rauma). The absolute number one jumper of RMJ is a former AMK-member, and the only member of his club, Rocky Mountain, who ended up living at Rauma after a rather fishy series of incidents. A woman is rumoured to have something to do with it. This enthusiastic jumper didn’t stay idle for long but soon put up his own club to cherish the ski-jumping traditions of the west coast. Rauma used to be the stronghold of the sport in the beginning of the Millennium, when jumpers like brothers Ollie “Timber” and Jake “Virus” Boozehill flew through the air with their rather original styles. Sometimes these fellows even stood their jumps, unlike the tragically famous P. Magpie. Magpie was considered to be a promising jumper as a junior but never made it. Nowadays he’s made a career in basketball. Also the actives of the Workshop and Logstreet Skiing clubs held ski-jumping’s level high for several years, until the winds of the world swept them to other locations. But now it was the half professionals of AMK who participated the awakening of the ski-jumping culture of the west coast by participating this respected invitational. The arrival of the top jumpers was of course a great honour for the local club, and that could also be seen in the arrangements. No efforts whatsoever were spared.

One must take the time on the road

 The jumpers of AMK: Lasse of Downstairs, Rikhard Absinther and Imam Beulebauch were accompanied by Michael Deercape from their daughter club the Kite of Mount Tapiola. Deercape’s stakes were high, because by doing well he would have had the chance to be taken as a full member of AMK. The four horsemen started a Swedish quality(?) product in the forenoon and headed for Rauma right after Imam’s morning exercise. The steering wheel, however, was turned about in rather random manner and the group ended up at Kauvatsa (doesn’t mean anything even in Finnish). This was because of the call of the small roads that the bunch just couldn’t resist. This project took more time than necessary, though, and in one or two crossroads the route selections were discussed in a somewhat intense manner. Taking a time out at the only gas station of Kauvatsa, the place where you can buy just about anything. A wireless telecommunication connection to Rauma was established, status report given and the trip could continue. Finally the bunch made it to their destination safely. During the drive they also thought through the egg-laying motives of chicken and taming dilemmas of swallows. The discussion in question started from the backseat and caused the neighbours in the front seats stomach ache, tears and numbness in their face muscles. The serious sounding symptoms were gone by more serious subject of discussion: lips.

Ice hockey, a couple of goals and The Final Countdown

When we arrived the atmosphere was through the roof. With formal ceremonies we gave Rocky Mountain a Christmassy gift as a sign of good will and brotherhood. The man had prepared some “little salty bite” and invoked a peace of meat of the size of the neighbour’s dog from the depths of the oven. According to oral tradition Mr. Mountain had hunted this catch from the woods next to the UPM paper factory using only a disposable knife and a user’s manual of Swiss army. The side dish served with the piece of meat consisted of healthy salad and a hellbowl full of potatoes. The hungry visitors thanked the generous host by eating all, after all it’s not polite to leave good dish to spoil. After a short adjusting to this new state of being the whole lot went to watch the Finnish national game, ice hockey. And Tahko Pihkala, the founder of the Finnish national game Finnish baseball (nothing close to American baseball), should not be turning around in his grave. In some people’s opinion the most popular game should be called national game, which ice hockey without a doubt is in the cape of Finland. However, whatever, this is not a statement rather than just streaming of consciousness. So forward in the corridor, said the secretary. In the game of the evening the home team Rauman Lukko (the Lock of Rauma) faced the less necessary team of Tampere called Tappara (tappara is a two blade axe that e.g. Gimly the dwarf carries in the Lord of the Rings). In Tappara plays also Vammala’s own boy Mika Lehto, but unfortunately this gift to the world of hockey coming from the part of Vammala called Lousaja wasn’t seen guarding the goal of Tappara this time. The match itself was a very entertaining struggle, where Tappara controlled the rink in the beginning of the game anyway they wanted. In the course of some 2-minute penalties the home team was eventually able to get some grip on the game and both teams took turns in the lead. As the goals were even 3-3 when the 3rd period ended the game went to overtime period. The home audience that had stuffed itself in the recently modernized ice hall of Äijänsuo (Geezer’s swamp) eventually got a reason to celebrate, when Shayne Toporowski of Lukko was forgotten alone in front of Tappara’s goal and he ended the game with a golden goal. The group of ski-jumpers had now seen enough of curving, checking, hooking, slapshots, offsides and icings and headed back to RMJ’s jumptower. The ski-jumping contest of the evening was ready to begin.