Any North American professional sports team is bound to have fans beyond their city limits. And the Philadelphia Flyers are no different. But then there are fans across continental North America and then there are fans in more distant places. This article is about Timo Suomalainen, a 30-something Flyers fan who grew up around Helsinki, Finland and has been a fan since early childhood.
Timo Suomalainen remembers when he first fell in love with hockey. In 1995, the Finnish national team won the International Ice Hockey Federation World Championship in Sweden, defeating the host country 4-1 in Stockholm.