Niklas Friman stares at his national team shirt.
- Seven people with Finnish passports work in Ajoie’s organization.
- Defender Niklas Friman is playing his first season in Switzerland.
World champion and Olympic champion Niklas Friman moved from Ilves to HC Ajoie of the Swiss league this season. Ajoie belongs to the small organizations of the wealthy league and is at the bottom of the league table.
Despite the slow start to the season, the team wants to be a nasty opponent for everyone.
– Little by little, we are starting to find our own things in our game, although it doesn’t always show in the result yet. A big value for us is that it would be really difficult to play against us. We want to play really physically and fight a lot. We want to be mean.
– Our goal is to defend the center closely and then we play in a straight line in the direction of attack. So we want to be the team that is difficult to play against, Friman tells Iltalehte in Ajoie’s home hall at the Raiffeisen Arena.
A new league
The 32-year-old Olympic champion Niklas Friman is playing his first season in the Ajoie team in the Swiss league. PDO
Brought up by Tuton, Friman debuted in the League in the TPS shirt in the 2011–2012 season. The defenseman has also represented HPK, JYP, Jokeri, Brynäs and Ilves before moving to Switzerland, Europe’s best hockey league.
There are new kinds of streets in a new country.
– A few things here are done in a different style compared to before. There are quite a lot of long passes in the game and the pace is fast in the middle area. You have to get involved quickly, the 32-year-old defender thinks.
– But the game has started quite well. Let’s move forward hard.
The cup tastes good
The second-generation hockey player doesn’t really feel that he was surprised by anything in the Swiss league.
– Quite a lot of acquaintances have played here, and I have asked and heard about things from them beforehand. This is a tough and competitive series. There is a lot of skating here, and all the rinks seem to have a great atmosphere.
– Our home games have had an even tougher atmosphere than I could have imagined. There is quite a cottage in the hall. I have really enjoyed it.
The hometown of the driving team is Porrentruy in the canton of Jura in the French-speaking part of Switzerland.
The team’s fans have their own reputation in the hockey circles of the country.
– They say that our fans drink a lot of alcohol at games and are loud, the club’s business manager Kimmo Bellmann give a laugh.
Nummelin directs
Kimmo Bellmann, a citizen of Switzerland and Finland, is the business director of the HC Ajoie organization.
There are many Finns in Ajoie’s team. Friman and Anttoni Honka belong to the defensive team, Julius Nättinen and Jerry Turkulainen to the attacking team.
Petteri Nummelin and Juha-Pekka Hytönen are part of the coaching team, and Bellmann, who grew up in Switzerland but has a Finnish passport, is the team’s business manager.
Hockey legend Nummelin works most with kits.
– Various instructions come from there. He has an incredible playing career there in the background. His attacking skills are well remembered, and I have tried to ask about them, for example, where it is worth shooting.
– I have also asked about Nummelin’s passing skills, how he sees things and what he sees first on the ice in certain situations. If you could bring even a little bit of that into your own game, that would be good, says Friman.
The national team is interested
Niklas Friman will fight in the 2022 Olympic final with Dmitri Voronkov. Finland won Olympic gold. PDO
Friman from Turku was part of the team that won the Olympic gold in Beijing and the team that won the spring 2022 world championship.
The 189-centimeter pack is still interested in the lion shirt.
– Of course. It has been an extremely big thing for me every time I have been able to represent Finland. And the same thoughts are still there. The national team is a matter of honor and my goal is to continue to get there, says Friman directly.
HC Ajoie’s Finnish foursome. Anttoni Honka (left), Julius Nättinen, Niklas Friman and Jerry Turkulainen. Petteri Nummelin, Juha-Pekka Hytönen and Kimmo Bellmann also work in the organization. TIMO KUNNARI