Who is the new national coach? A strict supporter of the rules, preceded by success
The first foreigner on the national team. The hockey team was led by Fin Jalonen
However, as a coach, he belongs to the top of Europe. He has won the Finnish league four times (three times as an assistant coach and four times as a player), and has two Swiss titles. He also worked in the KHL, where in the given 2013/2014 Lev Praha led to the finals.
“I know this country and I know how important hockey is here,” Jalonen recalled a year later, when the Czech Republic came to the World Cup as the chief strategist of the Finnish national team, with whom he won silver in 2016. In Prague, he was eliminated in the quarterfinals by the Czechs, led by the two-goal Jaromír Jágr.
But back to Leo: During the season, Jalonen replaced his good friend Václav Sýkora, who remained on the coaching team as an assistant. The Finnish expert successfully breathed his characteristic hockey philosophy into an international group of legionnaires from around the world.
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“He has a clear idea of how the team should play, and he can get it out of the players,” Sýkora said years ago. It’s no secret that Jalonen cares above all about a perfectly developed defense. Every detail is important to him, he likes to work with video. “At the back, the rules are followed very strictly, but they can show their ideas in front,” Sýkora described.
In short, Jalonen likes the style of hockey, which may not be appealing at first glance, but it brings success. “A lot depends on an excellent goalkeeper and then on honest and good defensive activities,” he summarized his principles.
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The native of Oulu often puts on the ice mask of a poker master, his northern gaze can freeze in place. During matches, they usually frown, but they can also explode, and charges, who do not act on the ice according to his ideas, soon get to know Jalonen’s massive vocal fund with a start.
But he can also laugh, especially at the end of the season with the winning trophy. Will he also succeed in his new role in the Czech national team? It is certain that his resounding name and past will earn him respect, while his style of the national team (for Filip Pešán looking in vain for a game face) can help significantly in short-term tournaments.
The question is how his austere professionalism deals with the traditional distrust of the Czech environment towards “saviors” from abroad…