The Jukurits and the SHL team Luulaja meet a total of four times in the CHL this season.
Olli Jokinen leads Jukurit against Lulea. ELMERI ELO / AOP
Jukurit will meet Swedish Luulaja in the quarterfinals of the CHL. The first match will be played on December 6 in Sweden.
The teams met twice already in the opening series. Lulea won the matches 5–2 and 4–3.
– The first game was early in the fall, right after the training games. It was a bit like fathers versus sons. The demand of skating in the international game came to our team’s eyes, says Jukurie’s head coach Olli Jokinen.
– In the second game, we already had an understanding of what was ahead. We were even better in the five-on-five game. It was a goal game. Jokinen, who is coaching in the second season in the league, thinks about the second game.
Big away
Experienced Juhamatti Aaltonen is one of Mikkeli’s most important players in the CHL playoffs. TOMI NATRI / AOP
Playing in the hockey Champions League for the first time, Jukurit made a big splash when it beat its Swiss league rival Fribourg-Gottéron in the opening round of the playoffs with a combined score of 3–2.
– Our first goal was to be able to eliminate one big team. We wanted to be successful in this competition, says Jokinen.
Everybody along
Jukurit is playing again against its bigger team. The Mikkeli team operates with a player budget of around two million euros.
The amount of money spent on Lulea’s players this season is probably three times larger.
– Nothing comes out of the box anymore. The opponent is once again a team of a different caliber in a financial sense. But we go into these games with confidence.
– I don’t know if anyone has made it to the top eight in this competition before with such a small budget. There is no such extensive experience with CHL.
OJ knows what it takes to win.
– Every one of our players has to be involved in the game with their whole soul. We can’t have free riders if we want to win. Against Fribourg, we showed that we can knock down bigger teams if everyone follows our system.
– And when we have good goalkeeping and defensive play and a little bit of luck, Jokinen says.
Always on the skin
Defender Joni Jurmo and Jukurit will attack five Finnish players, including Leo Komarov, in the quarterfinals of the CHL. ELMERI ELO / AOP
Jukurit is ranked 11th in the league. The team has acquired new players and is still looking for the situation where all players have internalized Jokinen’s style of play.
– Last week was good for us overall. It was only the second week this season when we got our game working the way we wanted.
– If everyone is involved and it works, then we are an annoying opponent for Lulaja. What’s more annoying when some unknown player is on your skin all the time, the coach thinks.
Lulea has five Finnish players in its ranks, Julius Honka, Juhani Tyrväinen, Leo Komarov, Joonas Rask and Olli Nikupeterti.
Especially the NHL and KHL veteran Komarov is guaranteed to warm up the slightly stiff southern Savoyard crowd.
The winner of the two-part match series advances to the CHL semi-finals.
Correction 27.11. 9:53 a.m.: The first match between Jukurie and Luluja will be played on December 6, and not on December 7, as initially estimated.