Mikkeli is rejoicing over Jukurie’s recent release.
Olli Jokinen and Toni Lydman will continue their project in Mikkelin Jukurei next season as well. Mikko Lieri / AOP
In the last SM league season, the head coach who led Mikkelin Jukurit to second place in the regular season Olli Jokinen made its decision regarding the season 2023–2024.
Jukurit announced on Tuesday that Jokinen and the assistant coach who arrived in Mikkeli at the beginning of the summer Toni Lydman will continue in Mikkeli next season as well. The coaching team is completed by a goalkeeper coach Mika Tarvainen as well as the video coach who arrived during the summer Mika Hyvärinen.
When he arrived in Jukurei just over a year ago, Jokinen signed a 2+1 model contract. Development manager of Jukurit Mikko Hakkarainen says that the option year will not be used, but instead a completely new contract for the 2023–2024 season was negotiated for Joki.
– It is important that we concluded the negotiations in good time. Now we can fully focus on the current season and building the next season’s team, Hakkarainen states in the press release.
Jukurit was removed by the assistant coach at the beginning of October Vesa Surenkin contract. The club does not intend to acquire a replacement for Surenkin for coaching during this season.
Jukurit keeps its eyes open on the player market. According to the information received by Iltalehti, Etelä-Savoo is currently looking for one attacker and one defender.
The past season has been two-part in Mikkelian terms. In the SM league, the team is last to last in the standings, but in the CHL, Jukurit was, along with Tappara, the only Finnish team that made it to the playoffs from the group stage.