Jere Sallinen has played in all the big hockey organizations in the capital region. Now the striker’s salary is paid by the Swiss EHC Biel.
- Jere Sallinen knows the hockey organizations in the capital region.
- The double world champion is ready for Leijon this season as well.
- In Biel, Sallinen wants to lift the championship trophy.
Jere Sallinen is a special player. The striker’s professional career started in Espoo. He later played for the Jokers in the KHL and has also been HIFK’s skipper.
The clubs in the capital region are therefore quite familiar to the man.
The 32-year-old striker closely follows the events of Mestis and is one of the 12 players who have invested money in Kiekko-Espoo’s background company.
Kiekko-Espoo wants to join the League, even though the club’s financial situation is more than miserable.
Jokerit returns to Mestis, so the second highest league level has been in a good mood for a long time.
Could you play League in Jokers in the future?
– Now you hit it pretty bad. I haven’t thought about this. Yes, I played in the Jokers in the KHL. I guess there aren’t many who have been through all three teams in the capital region. It’s hard to say, Sallinen laughs.
HIFK?
Jere Sallinen played two seasons in HIFK and was the team’s captain. MATTI RAIVIO / AOP
Sallinen was still HIFK’s captain in the 2020–21 season. After that, the double world champion left for Switzerland and the EHC Biel team.
The man does not completely rule out playing for HIFK sometime in the future.
– Now let’s see what happens to Kiekko-Espo. Espoo is my hometown. This is also a difficult question. Teams and situations change so much and so quickly.
– We’ll see when it’s relevant sometime. It depends a lot on who coaches and who is the general manager where, the attacker thinks.
Sallinen’s deal with Biel will end next spring, but the man would like to continue in the alpine country.
– I have enjoyed myself here.
A minibus of Finns
Sons of Biel. Aleksi Heponiemi (left) Ville Pokka, Harri Säteri, Jere Sallinen and Toni Rajala play this season in the EHC Biel team in Switzerland. TIMO KUNNARI
Sallinen started his third season in Biel’s team. The Espoo native doesn’t need to be alone in the world, because no less than five Finns play in the club.
In addition to the permit, they wear a red-yellow shirt Toni Rajala, Ville Pokka, Harri Säteri and Aleksi Heponiemi.
The team’s coaching is also very blue and white. Petri Matikainen is the head coach and Juha Vuori assistant coach.
– I already knew Petu before, I have been under him when I was younger. Petusta notices that experience has accumulated, he is not quite the same coach as years ago in Espoo.
Has the man calmed down?
– Well, yes, it has calmed down. And you can also see the certainty brought by experience in what he does. He is not the first to lead the ship. And I’m not 17 anymore myself, Sallinen tells Iltalehte.
In the final
Petri Matikainen (left) and Juha Vuori coach at EHC Biel. TIMO KUNNARI
Biel is a top European team. It played in the final of the Swiss league last spring, but lost to Geneve-Servette.
– Last spring, it was caught by a small one. We went all the way to a stalemate. One win came away, and then we should have won at home. Couldn’t translate that game, Sally times.
Even this season, Biel, who is able to pay, has a team capable of striking.
– Let’s start from last season to improve. So there aren’t many options. The team changed a lot in the summer, says Sallinen.
Antti Törmänen served five seasons as the team’s head coach, but was sidelined after last season due to cancer.
A high-quality series
For a long time, the Swiss league had such a reputation that the players went there at the end of their careers to enjoy the beautiful scenery and lift the cool licks.
The salary of a puck player is still about right in the country, but the NLA has developed into the leading puck league in Europe together with the SHL.
Money buys good players and the players define the level of the series. Only those Finnish players and coaches who make it will move to the Swiss league.
Many have to settle for a worse series and a lower salary level.
When the KHL became moldy and Russian, many distinguished foreign players moved from there to Switzerland. It raised the level of the series even more.
– This is a tough series. Different style than Liiga. Here, we put a lot of effort into speed, compared to the hustle and bustle of Finland’s central region and taking care of the defensive end.
– However, it seems that Finnish puck is slowly going in this direction as well. That the aim is to attack quickly and play quickly with the puck, Sallinen thinks.
The national team is interested
Jere Sallinen pushes France to the goal in the match of the spring 2023 World Cup tournament. KIMMO BRANDT / AOP
Energy player Sallinen is a two-time world champion. The 32-year-old striker is still interested in the lion shirt.
– That is one of the goals this season as well. But you never know what will happen. Will the national team be reformed, for example. Been there for many years, let’s see what happens.