Ilari Melart returned to HIFK from Mannheim, which turned out to be a bad mistake.
- Ilari Melart left HIFK on a world tour nine years ago as a member of the World Cup-level national team.
- Now he returns to Stadi’s reds as an even better player.
Ilari Melart won the championship in HIFK in 2011 and represented Finland at the WC in 2013.
Since then, he has seen AHL, KHL, SHL and DEL and developed himself in tough leagues with hard work.
– Something had to be brought to the table, Ilari Melart justifies his reputation as a “retriever” inherited from the early years of his league career. Riku Laukkanen / HIFK
Along with and past the role of the police officer familiar from the early days of Jykevän Pak’s career, the role of a reliable host of the team’s defense, which also has considerable help in the offensive direction – especially in the possession game, has been tightened.
As proof of that, in the 2019–2020 season, despite his playing position, he was Växjö Lakers’ best scorer and most effective defender with a balance of 12+9=21.
In the following season, the same number of goals brought the second place in the SHL defensemen’s goal exchange. The season culminated in Växjö winning the Swedish championship.
Last season also went well. Melart collected 15 points in 23 DEL matches, but as you can guess from the few remaining matches, the year in Germany was not easy.
Wrong choice
Ilari Melart has to run in front of Adler Mannheim’s goal. The picture is from last season. PDO
The biggest problem was not the knee injury that occurred in December, from which the man still recovered to be in playing condition for the spring. The idea of returning home, to HIFK, matured during rehabilitation in January for a completely different reason.
– I didn’t have a very good time there, Melart, 33, says from Adler Mannheim.
– Unfortunately, sometimes there are wrong choices. I had been in Sweden for six years, and it would have been possible to continue there, but I thought it would be nice to see Germany or Switzerland as well, he says.
– There were attempts to go to Switzerland, but nothing came of it. At that point, Mannheim sounded like an extremely good package: great facilities and, on paper, an absolutely insane place.
The truth was something else entirely.
– The atmosphere in the booth was one of the worst in my career.
Useless acknowledgment
About half of the lineup were foreigners, mostly North Americans, but according to Melart, the negative atmosphere was not particularly caused by them any more than by the Germans.
There was not a single bad apple.
– I talked to a few guys who had been there longer, and I think that culture had slowly developed in that direction.
– Of course it also went higher. The staff had a feeling of stress all the time, and it was reflected in the players, says Melart.
How did the toxic atmosphere manifest itself in practice?
– It’s okay to be critical, but that kind of pointless bullshit…
– If someone shoots and doesn’t pass, the fudist-style spreading of the hands, saying why didn’t you pass to me, Melart gives an example.
– This was also in the games, and the like fuck you. And when koutsi says something, you don’t even look at it. Such things.
Melart points out that one can say something about someone’s constant goofing off.
However, it wasn’t a question of that, but, to put it in Finnish, it was clearly bullshit.
Mold house
Despite the unpleasant atmosphere, Melarti’s game went well.
– Until I went to say that I wanted to leave there, I had played almost at a point per game pace and the most of the team. Then suddenly the playing time decreased and the superiority time ended.
The head coach Pavel Gross got fired just before the playoffs, and the team moved forward with the Canadian who replaced the Czech Bill Stewart’s in the lead all the way to the semi-finals, when they lost to Eisbären Berlin, who were on their way to the championship.
There were other problems. The society offered Melarti’s family an apartment in a semi-detached house, which turned out to be a home house.
– It had an enormous impact on our comfort and endurance.
The matter began to be revealed when the family’s children became seriously ill.
– I spent a lot of time in the hospital with the children. We have two children and both were really sick. The symptoms were very severe, a fever of 40 degrees and he couldn’t get up from the couch.
– We realized that this is not normal. I pulled the baseboards open, and they were full of black mold. The wall behind one of the cabinets was also moldy.
It was not possible to be completely sure of the cause of the children’s illness, but the traces led to mold damage. The symptoms disappeared when the family was finally able to move to another apartment.
The spirit of HIFK
– The most important thing is to do winning things on the field, Ilari Melart emphasizes. Vesa Parviainen
HIFK’s training games did not go well, when, for example, in the last two matches they lost against Pelicans and KooKoo with a combined score of 0–8.
According to Melart, you shouldn’t be too worried about it, because the composition has been recycled.
Despite the losses, the atmosphere at HIFK is excellent, according to him. The change after Mannheim has been big.
– It’s really huge. Hard work is done, and of course here too, everyone wants playing time, wants to score goals themselves and get power points. But it’s how you present it that makes the difference.
How does HIFK react if a player shoots and does not pass to someone in a better position?
– If it happens once, then hardly anyone will say anything, Melart answers.
– If it happens regularly, then let’s look at the flip-flop board, for example, “have you noticed that they’re playing there, that it’s open all the time – go there too for now”.
This does not always require coaching. The players also go through things with each other in a good spirit.
– You bet. For example, you can go through the opponent’s understrength and look at options for passing positions.
Happy family
Praise builds self-confidence and barking easily eats away at it, but constructive criticism is important, according to Melarti.
He doesn’t miss the Swedish style of pleasing everyone, which he has experience with, especially in Färjestad 2017–19.
– There was a lot going on through positivity, and it even went beyond. Video conferences were also like highlight show. If someone had thrown a knuckleball in the game, it was guaranteed to be shown, but the problems were hardly addressed at all.
– On average, it’s definitely better to bring up positive experiences, but you just have to bring up regular mistakes. I think I would have two Swedish championships instead of one if it had been done like this in Färjestad, Melart shakes.
– We had an extremely good team, and we got far, but mistakes were never caught and there were no consequences.
Also like this happy family -culture starts from the top, in this case the coach Johan of Pennerborn.
– I think he is a great coach, and I liked being under him, Melart points out.
– But yes, he should have caught the mistakes harder sometimes.
Balance
In addition to the posi-nega scale, there are other pitfalls in leadership. According to Melarti, Gorss, who was fired from Mannheim, fell into micromanagement.
– When the work of every physio and guardian is interfered with, it gradually starts to piss everyone off. If the coach interferes even with how the skates are sharpened, it brings stress and pressure.
The championship came in Växjö By Sam Hallam under. According to Melarti, the current head coach of the Swedish national team had a good balance of encouragement and demandingness, and he says the same, HIFK pilot From Ville Peltose.
– There is exactly that balance. In Finland, we have never been afraid to talk about mistakes, but we also remember to talk about positive things.
HIFK opens its league season today with a home match against HPK.