Timo Kunnari
Antti Pennanen will continue as the main commander of the Lions for at least next season. It’s a completely right decision, writes Timo Kunnari.
The Lions progressed as far as Canada, a NHL superstars, in the spring World Championships. Pasi Liesimaa
Hockey Chairman Heikki Hietanen And Jere Lehtinen, the General Manager of the Lions, has now publicly announced it.
Head coach Antti Pennanen has support for the union’s leadershipAnd the man’s position as the head coach of the national team is not threatened by the events of the past.
Good thing that way. Finnish sports management often does not include bumping and a quick annulment of one’s own decisions.
If the hockey union had come to a different solution, the Lions head coach’s ball would only be here Three -scale candidates. They are Jussi Tapola, Olli Jokinen and Kari Jalonen.
However, everyone is caught up in club contracts and there is a busy hockey winter. During the season, five tournaments will be played: four EHT events and in February the Milan-Cortina Olympic Hockey Tournament.
And at least the league is played during the Olympics.
Olli Jokinen will train HIFK next season. Vesa Pöppönen / AOP
What would Tapola’s salary payer Bern, Jokinen’s account acknowledging HIFK or Kojo Jalonen’s employer Köln would reply if the Finnish Ice Hockey Association was called and asked for the most important employee of the organization as a coach for the Finnish national team?
In addition, it would be reported, That your main commander will then be in use by the national team for about 6-7 weeks next season.
So – getting a permit might be difficult.
So the double role is probably impossible, and none of the above coaches would give up a good club team in this point because of the national team.
That is, in short, Pennanen would not have had a domestic follower that meets the dimensions. And there was no need, as the hockey union leaders outlined.
Generally speaking about kicks, one should also think about the fact that valid The replacement is at hand.
The national team patterns are not worth messing with anyway. Pennanen has been involved in one season, and during that time the man got to know the most important group of players, the NHL professionals.
It is easier for both parties to go to the main event of next season, the Olympic Tournament than the 4 Nations tournaments.
Lions assistant coach Jussi Tapola enjoys a nice life – and pay in Bern, Switzerland. Pasi Liesimaa
The Lions season was far from perfect.
The World Cup ended in the quarterfinals in the last two spring, but the season was not fiasko, even though the game was from time to time and the continuation was somewhat missing.
Of course, the backgrounds of the Stockholm Games and the Lions’ results have twists and turns that have not been reported in public.
Finland had to go to the World Cup with such a player material that it could not do the top. The best NHL men played in the League League playoffs.
Some wondered why Ville Koivunen, who was heavily performed in the AHL and the NHL, did not fit into the Pennanen team. Koivunen would have been available, but the young man asked for a sure place without camping, and This is not available to many players on the Finnish national team.
Many World Cup candidates in the European series had to be left out for various health reasons, some also refused.
There have been some gravel sounds from the players towards Pennanen’s activities, but that’s what it always goes to for every coach. The role of the player remains small and the creeper begins.
Pennanen’s working methods have also been praised.
Pennanen will continue for a year or two, and then it is the next Lion’s turn to take the national team forward.
Hopefully by then the domestic league has got its activities in the right direction, And it would produce more international -friendly players to different top leagues.
It would be easier for the Lions head coach to work.