As we've previously noted, the gold medial victory for their national team made Finland go mental (and their goaltending coach fall-down-go-boom). One of the undeniable highlights of that world championship run was Mikael Granlund's lacrosse-style goal against Russia in the IIHF semifinals, and it's now been immortalized.
Yes, much like Peter Forsberg's shootout goal in the 1994 Winter Games was given a postal stamp in Sweden, Minnesota Wild prospect Granlund's goal can be slapped on electric bill payments and birthday cards to grandma in Helsinki.
The wonder-goal has found its way rapidly onto a commemorative stamp, according to an announcement made on Friday by Itella (formerly Suomen Posti), the State-owned national mail enterprise.
The first-class mail stamp has been designed around a press image of the goal as it went in, and shows Granlund, the stunned Russian goalie Konstantin Barulin, and the puck in the roof of the net. The stamps came on sale today, Friday, and can be bought only from Itella's online shop in sheets of 20 (5 x 4), for EUR 15.00.
Actually, scrub that sentence above: they could be bought in that fashion, but the demand was so enormous that even before mid-afternoon on Friday the online store had to put up the shutters and admit they had sold out, and that they would only be getting new stock in after June 1st.
Wow … Mikael Granlund is like the Young Elvis of hockey stamps. The paper said that it usually takes six months to a year to create and publish a stamp, so this was an expedited process.
Quite an honor. For Reebok, we mean. Boy, they got what they paid for, huh?
s/t to Riiseli.