Petteri Nummelin wants to train in Finland in the future.
TPS breeder Petteri Nummelin’s road will take her next coaching job to Switzerland. JAAKKO STENROOS / AOP
- Petteri Nummelin’s coaching career continues in French-speaking Switzerland.
- Nummelin is trying to get Finnish players to HC Ajoie.
- One day, a puck cosmopolitan wants to coach in Finland.
The national team’s longtime warhorse Petteri Nummelin signed a two-year coaching contract for the Swiss Main Series to the HC Ajoien team.
Jobs in the Swiss league are highly sought after. Especially now that the situation in KHL has fallen into disrepair and non-Russian players and coaches are free in the dark.
Many Finnish and foreign coaches tried to find a well-paid job in Switzerland for this season.
Why did Nummelin succeed?
– Yes, a good question. It’s not an easy project to get here. In time, I was able to see in Lugano how accurate the recruitment of players is. In it, the phones ring in all possible different directions. Information is searched and everything possible is found out about the players. Opinions are sought.
– I guess it goes in the same way in the coach selection. The club’s general manager Julien Vauclair is my former playmate. He knows exactly what he got when he was hired.
Lots on the table
Petteri Nummelin wants to coach in Finland in the future. MIKA KANERVA / AOP
Nummelin brings a tremendous experience to the organization of Ajoien. The Turku player played in Switzerland for a total of 13 seasons. The defender brewed in Davos in 1997-2000 and in Lugano in 2002-06 and 2008-2013.
In addition, the TPS breeder went twice in the NHL (Columbus Bluejackets and Minnesota Wild).
The people remember best a skilled defender from the national team. Nummelin played as many as 15 World Championships and grabbed seven of them. From the Turin Olympic tournament, Nummelin took home a silver medal in Turku.
In the league, the defender represented Reipas Lahti, TPS and Lukko. The gaming career ended far away in Japan.
Nummelin, 49, moved in as coach in 2018. For the last three seasons, he operated as assistant coach for the Norwegian club Storhamar.
Kit in search
Porrentruy, the hometown of HC Ajoie, is located in the valley of the River Allaine, near the French border, forty kilometers southwest of Basel. The city has rapids with 7,000 inhabitants.
– In the last week of July should move to Switzerland. Ice training will begin in early August.
The team is not ready yet.
– The Swiss players of the team are roughly in a pile and under the drivers. Aliens are still being sought, at least the kit is being sought. I have dropped a few Finnish names there, Nummelin reveals.
Boss from the Czech Republic
Filip Pesan was recently elected head coach of HC Ajoie. AOP
He was recently elected head coach of the run Filip Pesan. The man still coached the Czech national team at the February Olympics, but lost his job To Kari Jalosen.
– Not a familiar guy yet other than from phone conversations. We’ve been through things, and I got an honest impression of the man. He believes in coaching in the group and wants to give responsibility to the entire coaching team.
No back stabbing
Nummelin went to Lugano to negotiate with Vauclair as early as December. However, the people of Turku wanted to wait for the head coach to be appointed before putting his name on the shopkeeper.
– I wanted the head coach to want me on his team. I wanted approval from there. It doesn’t work anyway. The head coach is my boss. Behind him I went to blame or clay, Nummelin reminds of loyalty.
Tepsin?
Nummelin, 49, is at the beginning of his coaching career. Still, the door to the desired league has already opened. The man spins his future gently.
– My primary goal as a coach is to see how far I can go. I do not know whether that means, for example, the Swedish league or something else. Nice to see what kind of coach is hatching about itself.
Coaching in Finland will not be knocked out by the puck cosmopolitan.
– Of course it’s interesting. However, the league is one of the toughest series in Europe, and not just a breeder series. A lot of things are done well in Finland.
Would you one day be interested in the position of TPS head coach?
– It is by no means excluded, laughs Nummelin.