40 Reasons to Love Tuukka Rask (in case you don't already love him!)

Tuukka Rask! He is pretty great, isn't he? Are you still on the fence about whether or not to embrace him? Here are some reasons that should help make up your mind. Hopefully you will soon be doing what you see in the GIF below without any shame!

We're all Rask fangirls and fanboys at heart.

1. When he's not stopping pucks, he's putting out fires and saving kittens.

2. He is a talented saxophone player, maybe. 

3. Animals are naturally drawn to him and love him because he rules.

4. He is also really great at baseball, golf, and tennis. Or he is really great at just playing stuff for charity.

Future Boston Red...Sock?

All the best golfers don't tuck their shirts in!

I actually don't know who that guy is. I think Tuukka actually does play tennis!

Also, water sports!?

5. He may or may not think medals are made out of chocolate.

Also, he looked like Charlie Conway when he was young.

6. He is secretly a leprechaun 

7. He is also secretly Santa Claus

8. And Rudolph

9. Tuukka cares about the environment! Sometimes he rides his bike instead of driving.

10. Tuukka is FASHIONABLE! 

Look at this! Everything about this!

Even can rock a plain black shirt and look like a super model.

Collared shirt, tie, sweater vest, suit jacket...most stylish guy on the planet.

I don't know about that sweater but this picture is hilarious.

He is even stylish when in a button-up and jeans. Standing next to Mark Recchi. And possibly intoxicated.

Putting Shawn Thornton and Daniel Paille to shame with batting practice attire.

11. More about fashion - look at him accessorize! 

Who can make a scarf work with a collared shirt UNDER a jersey? TUUKKA CAN!

Sorry Tuukka makes you look like a troll, Brad.

12. Pull over! Actually, it's a cardigan, but thanks for noticing. (Cardigans!)

Tuukka loves his cardigans.

I had like 40 pix of him in this cardigan. But it looks nice. He can dress it up, dress it down.

I'm pretty sure there's a cardigan under there, in which he makes the handsome Seidenberg look goofy somehow.

13. Seriously, look at this hair.

He looks like a well-behaved, well-dressed school boy.

Bergeorn is wearing a velvet suit, I think. Tuukka is not afraid to button as far down as possible, despite his lack of chest hair and undefined chest.

Long, short, straight, or curly...Tuukka has lovely hair.

Even when he shaves it for Cuts for a Cause.

BUT IT GROWS BACK!

14. Yet he still puts ridiculous things on his head, because he's funny.

I have no idea what that is.

This isn't ridiculous...I just like this picture.

A tuque over the helmet.

Look at those young chubby cheeks!

An instance of the plain backwards baseball cap, which highlights his Spock-like eyebrows.

More about this later.

15. His favorite player is his goalie coach.

16. He's wearing a shirt that says "I'm in Miami, bitch" and I think he is serious about it.

17. By the way, sometimes when he slicks his hair back, he looks like Dracula.

18. He has sweet dance moves.

19. This is how he spent part of his day with the Stanley Cup in Finland:

And doing this:

20. Tuukka is really great at photobombing

21. Tuukka has a brother! He also plays hockey and his name is Joonas.

22. Tuukka is a proud Finn, who is blunt about his dislike for Swedes

23. He will give you a souvenir stick if you have a Finnish flag.

24. Tuukka may be tall and lanky, but he will kick your ass, Cam Ward.

I can't wait for the day that Tuukka challenges someone to a fight and they, unlike Cam Ward, aren't too scared to indulge him.

25. Tuukka was a loyal, supportive back-up to Tim Thomas. 

Before Timmy went crazy (when Timmy left the team, he changed his number, and didn't even tell poor Tuukka), he taught Tuukka a lot of valuable things that I think we see today in Tuukka's game. He is a great goaltender, much better than he was when he was the starter in 2010 when Timmy was injured. A lot of that - the composure, especially the ability to bounce back after giving up soft goals or a lot of goals in the playoffs - is a combination of learning from mistakes, gaining experience, working on his game, and most importantly, having the best goalie in the league to learn from for a few years in Tim Thomas. He was a very enthusiastic goaltender, happily with the team as a back-up during the Cup run, and now has taken the torch that has been passed to him to give the starting goalie role in the playoffs another go.

26. Tuukka is also now a supportive, helpful, awesome starting goalie to his back-up, Anton Khudobin.

27. Tuukka is very passionate. He is pretty calm and collected these days, although he shows flashes of...heated emotion.

But sometimes that emotion is HAPPY!

28. Tuukka is great with kids and it's adorable.

The cutest.

A natural, all the way back to his days in Providence.

29. Tuukka is weird. During the flight home from Vancouver after the Bruins won the Cup, he put on Nathan Horton's helmet...and didn't take it off until after the Parade. Why? "Safety First"

This is him getting off the plane after arriving back in Boston from Vancouver.

30. Tuukka is happy to show you how flexible he is, because he is a goalie, while not actually in goalie gear. Look at those stretchy pants! Such skinny legs.

31. Tuukka loves to party.

He is actually the life of the party, and it doesn't start until he arrives.

This is from he and Johnny Boychuk's days in Providence.

32. Tuukka can really look scary and evil sometimes, almost in a hilariously scary way.

33. But he's actually incredibly nice, funny, and awesome. 

34. Everyone loves Tuukka. Look at him smile through his mask!

Tuukka and Johnny go way back!

Z hugging any player is adorable, because it's like a mama bear hugging her cub.

35. Here is a picture of him wearing a Team Canada jersey!

36. Look, he brought you coffee!

37. I'm pretty sure he always wears Ray Bans. And I think those are Toms.

38. When injured, he spends his time in the pressbox stuffing his face with popcorn. 

This is not Tuukka. But this needed a popcorn.gif

39. I'm not sure why, but at some point during a game in Finland, it appears he stripped much of his gear, I imagine in the same manner as the ending of Slap Shot.

Who needs pants? Not Tuukka. No, not Tuukka,

40. Tuukka is a damn good goalie, and that's the bottom line. And he isn't a jerk, he doesn't dress up his saves, and he is the kind of guy who signs a one year contract so he can EARN HIS CONTRACT AS A STARTING GOALIE. That's what he did last summer. He is currently earning his contract for this summer. 

He is Tuukka, and he is great!

If you are still on the fence about loving Tuukka, then....

THE END. What are your Tuukka thoughts?!