Juha Junno is not satisfied. The organization of the Kärppie is now being aired with a heavy hand.
- There have been several personnel changes in Kärpi over the past few days.
- The chairman of the board of the club, Juha Junno, admits: The team is poorly built.
- Junno believes that Kärpät will get back on his feet.
Kärpät, who humiliatingly finished in 14th place in the regular season of the Ice Hockey Championship League, has cleaned its organization with a big broom.
Kärpät announced on Monday that the club’s long-time assistant coach Toni Sihvonen leave his job. Kärpät also bid farewell to several of his players from last season.
On Tuesday, there was more news when Kärpät announced that the club’s long-term CEO Tommi Virkkunen will step aside after the 2026–27 season.
Virkkunen has been working in his position since 2017.
According to Kärppie’s board chairman Juha Junno, Virkkunen’s decision to leave did not come as a surprise.
– When he started in those jobs after me, he said that he will be on that stool for a maximum of ten years. When we made the group’s strategy with the board, it came up that we were going to make changes. They have been discussed and Tommi has also spoken about them himself. This was already known since last autumn, Junno tells Iltalehte.
Tommi Virkkunen (left) leaves Kärpi. Heikki Kontsas, holding the microphone in the photo, was the president of the club before Juha Junno. Picture from 2022. Jussi Määtt / AOP
Virkkunen has had time to be especially in Oulu tikunnoka. It is his head that has been demanded on a platter after the Kärppi’s lack of success in recent years.
Kärpät was also left out of the SM league playoffs last season. The only positive glimpse of the next few years came in the spring of 2024, when the team from Oulu won bronze.
Otherwise, Kärppie’s spring sky has been broken every time at an early stage.
Contradictions?
There have also been claims in the public that Virkkunen and Kärppie’s current director of sports, Kimmo Kapanen, had drifted into internal conflicts.
Among other things, it has been rumored in various podcasts that Kapanen’s powers have been limited.
Kimmo Kapanen’s role is growing. Photo of the home arena of the man’s previous employer, Timrå. Timrå IK
– Our strategy states that the role of the sports director will increase. He is also responsible for travel, equipment purchases and so on, i.e. the whole sport. He [Kapanen] came to us only in the summer, in connection with which we went through the fact that we are going according to the current patterns of the season that is still starting. It would have been too much if he had to start arranging all these things related to traveling and other things at that point. There may have been misunderstandings, but now he takes care of those things as well, Junno says.
In the case of Kärppi, there has been time to speculate as to whether its sports division should have its own CEO and whether the rest of the group should have its own CEO.
Junno hints that Kärpät plans to make additional appointments.
– We want to develop our organization and take it forward. The new manager is going to lead the group, which operates with a turnover of just under 35 million euros, and has more than 250 employees, Junno reminds.
In addition to the ice hockey division, the Kärppie group includes, among others, the Qstock festival and Tunturiviihde oy, which operates Ihku nightclubs.
From outside the box?
As a company, Kärpät practiced a hiring model for a long time, in which it recruited actors for different roles from within its own bubble.
Is the intention now to also look outside the box, i.e. will all possible factors be taken into account?
– The recruitment related to the search for the CEO is handled by a professional company with experience in recruiting top managers. In that regard, things have gone according to plan, and it has not been affected by whether we are in the playoffs or not, Junno answers.
According to Junno, the goal is that the person hired for the position will be able to cooperate with the club’s current boss, i.e. Virkkunen, for several months.
– Tommi has promised that he will bring in a new person, Junno says.
“Badly Built”
There were few reasons to be happy for the Kärppi this season as well. Petri Karjalainen continues as head coach. Matti Raivio / AOP
Kärpät organized a press conference last week, where the leaders of the Oulu club discussed the season that ended in disappointment.
– We have had discussions, Kimmo and coaching have done their own analyzes and they have had exit discussions with the players. They have clear measures for what is now done in a different way. I already know that we will be a clearly better team, Junno announces.
Junno doesn’t mince words when he talks about Kärppie’s downfall in recent years.
– Bad decisions have been made in the club, and the team has not been built in a sufficiently professional manner, he admits.
– It was clear that the sports side needed a proper strategy. You can’t redo things every year. Coaches and sports directors have been fired here with continuous input – nothing will come of it! Even though we didn’t succeed, everyone understood that things have to be done according to the strategy. I see light at the end of the tunnel and believe that Kärpät will rise. At some point, there will be more difficult periods for every sports club. It has come to Kärpi now and there are clear reasons for it.
– Those reasons go back a few years and are related to what kind of solutions have been made here. Sports are poorly structured, that’s a fact. Now we aim to be able to say out loud how skillfully we have assembled a team in a year’s time.
– There are professionals at work there. Kimmo is a professional and he can now properly influence things. The same words from Petri Karjalainen [Kärppien päävalmentaja]. We had to reinvent ourselves a bit. Kimmo and Pete have brought new faces to the coaching team.
Acquisitions
Juha Junno speaks directly about the problems of Kärppie. Matti Raivio / AOP
Kärpät announced on Tuesday that he had recruited the Mestis club Kiekko-Vantaa, having served as the head coach Jani Manninen as the club’s new assistant coach.
Kärpät also acquired its own prodigy, Eetu Päkkilä, who represented TPS last season.
In addition to this, Kärpät is getting stronger with Aleksi Matinmiko, who is now playing in Tappara, according to Iltalehti.
The newspaper Kaleva, on the other hand, has had time insinuatethat Eetu Koivistoinen, currently representing the Swedish club Luulaja, would be moving to Kärppi.
– This will be good, Junno assures.
