Kahkonen's first half rewarded with an AHL All-Star bid

During the NHL's All-Star break, Wild.com's Dan Myers has joined Minnesota's American Hockey League affiliate, the Iowa Wild, on a two-game road trip, sharing stories from inside the organization's minor-league team.
ROCKFORD, Ill. -- Kaapo Kahkonen's first stay in the National Hockey League was a short one. It lasted just one day, to be exact, but that one day has provided him with the motivation to make his next stay a little longer.
Back in November, Wild starting goaltender Devan Dubnyk was ill, so Minnesota summoned Kahkonen north on Interstate 35 to serve as Alex Stalock's backup against the Winnipeg Jets.
For a guy who wasn't even playing hockey in North America at this time last season, that's not a bad rise up the ranks.

"It's been alright; obviously, there's been some games that haven't gone alright, but I feel most of the time, we've done a good job and we've won a lot of games," Kahkonen said. "I feel like, at the beginning of the year, I got more comfortable all the time. After practice, after games, you get to know the guys a little better, and I think we have a good group of guys."
More often than not, Kahkonen has had things going in the right direction this season. Entering play on Saturday, Kahkonen had posted a 12-7-4 record with a 2.53 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage.
His five shutouts lead the American Hockey League, and his 12 wins are 16th, despite the fact he's been sharing the cage with veteran Andrew Hammond.
But the stats alone don't tell the whole story for Kahkonen, who came out of the gates red hot, posting three consecutive shutouts in his third, fourth and fifth career starts. Through his first five games in the AHL, Kahkonen allowed just four goals total.
Kahkonen is in the first year of professional hockey in North America, playing against brand-new competition, in brand-new buildings on an ice sheet that is much smaller than the larger rinks back in Finland.
The smaller sheet changes everything for a goalie, from what the background is behind the puck, to his angles away from the posts to how much more competitive every inch of available ice is in front of his crease.

Iowa coach Tim Army said that's where Kahkonen has excelled early on.
"He's big and strong, so he can fight through traffic," Army said. "He can fight through loose pucks and find them, and he's able to absorb pucks really well. He doesn't give up many rebounds because he can fight through traffic and cover pucks."
Kahkonen's success in his first half season has been noticed by others, too. In addition to his first -- albeit brief -- callup to the NHL, Kahkonen will take part in the AHL All-Star Game Monday in Springfield, Massachusetts. He will join Army and Iowa captain Cal O'Reilly as members of the organization at the event.
"I'm looking forward to it," Kahkonen said. "It's going to be exciting. I've never played in one of those before, so it will be cool to see how it is."
Kahkonen said one of the biggest reasons for his success has come from the internal competition with Hammond, who is also in his first year with the Wild organization.
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Hammond has 56 NHL games on his ledger, including one with Colorado last season and not counting three more he had during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He posted a stellar .933 in those playoff contests as well.
Having that kind of experience has helped push Kahkonen to be better, and Kahkonen's success has pushed Hammond to be on his game, as well.
"It's tough competition for who is going to get the games," Kahkonen said. "With the ice time, there's two good goalies here. It's been really good so far."
And while Kahkonen didn't get to play in a game during his quick NHL recall, he got to check a couple of important firsts; it was the first time he walked into the home dressing room at Xcel Energy Center, the first time he was his name on a jersey hanging in an NHL locker and the first time he walked out of the home tunnel in front of 18,000 fans.
Those memories will help him in his quest to get back to the NHL in short order.
"It's the league everybody dreams of playing in," Kahkonen said. "When you're here, you realize you're pretty close to that. Obviously, there's a lot of work to do, but it's the same things they're doing up there. There's no magic tricks to getting up there; it's just hard work, preparing every day and doing your best."
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