Finnish connection: Jazz's Lauri Markkanen and Utah HC's Jusso Valimaki bonding in Utah

SALT LAKE CITY — In April, Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen served as a tour guide.

But first, he was a hype man.

"I'm Jusso Valimaki, defenseman from Finland," Valimaki told the capacity crowd at the Delta Center on April 24 during Utah Hockey Club's welcome party.

That was met with thunderous applause. But no one cheered louder than Markkanen.

Countrymen stick together; and having another Finn around has helped Valimaki's transition to his new home in Utah.

"Since we've gotten here, we've hung out a couple of times and stayed in touch over the summer," Valimaki said. "We have a kid now, they have a couple of kids, and our wives are pretty close."

When the Valimakis first arrived in the spring, the Markkanens took them around the Salt Lake Valley, showing off some of their favorite spots and offering suggestions on where to live.

Suggestions, which, apparently fell on deaf ears.

"He didn't pick any, so I guess I was a bad host," Markkanen quipped.

While Valimaki is one of many Finnish NHL players — case and point: Utah HC forward Mattias Maccelli also hails from Finland — Markkanen is more of a rare breed. He is one of just three Finnish basketball players ever to have reached the NBA.

So it's a rare treat for Valimaki to share a city with a Finnish athlete from another sport.

"I think the nicest part about it is having a Finnish family that has nothing to do with hockey," Valimaki said. "It's not just hockey friends; you have other people in your life."

Does Valimaki share some of Markkanen's, shall we say, nerdy interests? (For example, Markkanen was disappointed during Jazz media day on Monday when no one asked his opinion about the newly announced Harry Potter ride at Universal Studios Orlando. "I wasn't even expecting to answer questions about basketball. It's about fishing, hiking and Harry Potter," he said.)

"Not as much, but some of it," Valimaki said.

Valimaki does, though, want to play a round of disc golf with Markkanen, an avid player. Markkanen's disc golfing hobby even went semi-viral earlier this month when a Reddit user posted his experience playing a round with the NBA star without knowing he was an NBA star.

"I used to do it too when I was younger, so it's not a completely new sport to me that I've never heard of or never done," Valimaki said. "So I got my own discs, too. They are back in Finland, though. I'm sure we'll do it one day."

Markkanen, who was at the Utah HC's preseason home opener last Monday, said he's hoping to get to some more hockey games to support Valimaki and the new pro team. The problem: His work schedule makes that a little difficult.

"We have the opposite schedule with home and away games, but try to go catch a couple of games and hang out," Markkanen said.

In that case, there's always another Finnish staple.

"It's good to know that we have other people who enjoy going to sauna," he said with a smile. "We get to hang out and talk about life and whatever. So yeah, it's definitely good."

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