Tomas Pacina knows what's ahead now. His girlfriend, hockey player Hayley Wickenheiser, will be living and playing in Finland for the entire 2003-04 season. He'll have to follow her games on the Internet and stay in touch by e-mail and, of course, there will be dozens of all-hour, transatlantic phone calls from Scandinavia to Calgary.
"At least the calls won't cost anything," Pacina said yesterday after Wickenheiser was signed to a one-year contract by a Finnish first division men's team. "She has a free cellphone from Nokia so that helps."
Once again, Wickenheiser, Canada's top female hockey player, has landed overseas to play for HC Salamat, the Finnish club team that dared add a woman to its professional ranks last season and was ever so glad it did. Last season, with Wickenheiser appearing in 20 games, Salamat drew large crowds, became a worldwide media fascination and was able to win enough games to move up from the second division.
This year, with Wickenheiser aboard for an entire season, Salamat is looking for continued success while the star of the Canadian women's national team is looking to find her limits and improve her skills. According to Pacina, the head coach of the Oval Xtreme women's hockey team in Calgary, it was an opportunity Wickenheiser couldn't turn down, even though there are hardships involved.
"She felt she needed to play for a whole year. Last year it was only two months," Pacina explained. "At 25, she feels this is the last time she can do this with the [2006 Winter]Olympics coming up and especially with the team being in the first division. She'll be playing in the highest level of hockey she can against men."
Wickenheiser scored a goal last season and was strong on faceoffs for Salamat, which is now owned in part by Teemu Selanne of the Colorado Avalanche. She returned to Finland in August to earn a permanent spot on the roster and Salamat coach Matti Hagman told reporters yesterday that she had done that with her determined efforts.
The difficulties facing Wickenheiser are obvious. Not only will she be playing against bigger, stronger opponents, she'll have to do it largely by herself. She'll have to change in a separate dressing room and find a suitable living arrangement in a foreign country where the language is as hard to understand as it is to read.
Being the centre of attention while feeling so isolated and alone bothered Wickenheiser the most last year. This year, said Pacina, he and Wickenheiser have done their best to make their separation as comfortable as possible.
"She's staying with a family over there, with her agent in Finland. That should help her away from the rink," said Pacina, who will take his son Noah and fly to Finland to see Wickenheiser's season opener on Sept. 18. "You miss family, but you have to look at it long term. This is the kind of experience you can't pass on. It doesn't mean it's easy. It's not easy, but it's a once-in--a-lifetime experience."
To help her prepare for training camp, Pacina said he did the best thing he could and stayed out of Wickenheiser's way.
"We live together. We talk about hockey all the time. You don't want to be so involved in everything. She worked out with trainer James Gattinger. Her training partner was [Calgary Flame]Martin Gelinas. I'm busy so is she. I don't want to be involved in her career. I support her, that's enough."
A documentary film about Wickenheiser's time with Salamat, dubbed One of the Guys, will be shown on Finnish television later this fall. In exhibition play yesterday, Salamat won 4-1 with Wickenheiser getting an assist. She was quick to call that into her boyfriend in Calgary.