"It was great. They were doing the wave, and people were really loud. It was pretty nice because neither one of us was the home team. Thanks again for the Carolina Hurricanes fans coming over. 300 plus fans over in Finland, it's... it's great. Personally, I think they're the best fans in the world. I mean they're always so supportive, it doesn't matter how you play, they are always positive and cheer you and like I said, the best fans in the NHL."

Tuomo Ruutu, post-game interview, October 8, 2010

Well, it is with very mixed feelings that I bring you this episode of WHIH, because it means the journey is officially finally over and it's time to wrap things up for good. Thanks to a kind friend I received DVD broadcasts of both games and have just able to sit down this weekend to relive them. I still haven't finished my photo albums (link here for what has been posted so far), Game 2 is the most complete with photos from the shootout, but I'll continue to work on them over the next week during our extended road trip.

Additional thoughts and random comments and opinion follow.

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My son has a favorite saying: It's all about the love. Now honestly I'm not sure where he got that, and I'm not sure whether he's sincere or whether he's just trying to sweet-talk me when trouble is brewing, but it was the first thought that came to mind as I was reviewing today's events. It was a day of much appreciation between a hockey team and its devoted fans.

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Radisson hotel lobby invasion (via flickr)

Helsinki will never be the same, folks. At least 300 Caniacs are reported to have invaded this beautiful city on the Baltic. The strongest surge appeared around 2:00 pm when there were enough Caniacs in the Radisson Blu lobby to completely eclipse the sun. A few stragglers found their way in later this evening. Despite rain, switched flights, checked carry-ons, surly US Air gate agents, cavity searches (okay I made that part up) and miscellaneous other delays and side stories, all parties now appear to be present and accounted for.

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View of railway square and hotel from Helsinki Railway Station.

via flickr

Evening updates follow!

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Welcome to what will be the final episode of WHIH before the friendly skies part and the small army that is Caniac Nation invades mysterious, exotic, remote, tiny, wacky Finland. By this time next week the long plane trip will be behind us, hopefully along with the jet lag, and we'll be ready to rock Helsinki. Please forgive me if I'm starting to sound just a little giddy.

It struck me as kind of ironic that the premise of this entire blog series has been that what happens in Helsinki STAYS in Helsinki, but in reality we travelers are going to do everything we can to bring Helsinki to the readers here at Canes Country!

Read more after the jump.

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In less than 30 days, a small army of maniacal fans wearing sightless eyes will descend on the Daughter of the Baltic. All of a sudden this trip is starting to get real. For me personally, Labor Day weekend was the time to finally get serious with list-making and trip preparation.

In this episode of WHIH, we'll delve into trip logistics so everyone knows what really is happening in Helsinki and when, and perhaps even share a few handy travel tips. Most of this information comes from a briefing meeting with AAA (along with special guest Chad LaRose) that was held at the RBC Center on Monday, August 30.

Chad LaRose works the crowd at the AAA meeting on August 30th: via flickr - Author's photo

Over 250 people are booked on trip packages through AAA, either through an all-inclusive air and land package that departs on Monday 10/4 and returns Saturday 10/9, or through a land-only package with varying airline departure and arrival times.

Several people purchased tickets only and made their own airline and hotel plans (I count around 25-30 who have been in direct contact with me). So we are holding strong at 300 Canes fans or more in the building for the games. For comparison, AAA Minneapolis has sold around 80 trip packages (their trip was longer and pricier than ours), and bloggers for the Wild are estimating around 150 Wild fans total purchased tickets either through AAA or on their own, which in itself is an impressive number and comparable to traveling attendance at last years' Premiere events.  But we double that prediction.  Folks, we are representing in a big way. The Canes organization has noticed, and I suspect the NHL has as well. If not, they will soon enough.

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