SaiPa confirmed the expected information and chose Ville Hämäläinen as head coach for the coming seasons as well.
In the middle of the season, he became the head coach of SaiPa Pekka Virran replaced Ville Hämäläinen continue in his role. SaiPa announced on Monday that Hämäläinen, who is from Lappeenranta, has signed a contract covering the next two hockey seasons.
Hämäläinen took Virra’s place in mid-October. The process was familiar to the coach, as he also served as interim head coach in the 2020–2021 season.
SaiPa’s season was catastrophic, when the team remained a series jumbo and was the first club of the season to start the so-called clearance sales. The club sold its top players well before the end of the season to patch up its finances.
It naturally weakened the chances on the playing field. The darkest period was between January and February, when SaiPa, led by Hämäläinen, lost no less than 16 games in a row.
Ville Hämäläinen remains the head coach of his hometown team. Mikko Lieri/AOP
Based on a closed series, the only direction is up. Hämäläinen, who is starting the season as head coach for the first time, believes in better tomorrow.
– More size, more character and more leadership qualities are definitely coming for next season’s team. I strongly believe that the direction of the team and the entire organization is forward, says Hämäläinen in the bulletin.
Also an assistant coach Santeri Immonen and goalkeeper coach Antti Ore continue in SaiPa.
SaiPa revealed one more mystery. The coaching will soon have a new reinforcement, whose name has not yet been revealed.
– In the future, the coaching group will also be supplemented by an assistant coach profiled in player development, whose name we will publish later, the release states.
CEO of Liiga-SaiPa Oy Jussi Markkanen confirms that assembling the club for next season is just the finishing touch. Player contracts are made public at the turn of April-May.
– The body of the future team is also starting to be finished down to the last details, and we will share the announcements related to the players when the League season as a whole ends, says Markkanen.