Hockey Hockey player Erkka Westerlund praises controversial KHL league and urges Jokers and fans to restrain – “Now we are in a really critical phase”

Erkka Westerlund coached the Jokers of Helsinki in its first three seasons in the Russian Hockey League at KHL in 2014–2016.

Even then, the experienced coach saw and experienced the difficulties that the Finnish team may have in the Eastern League.

Due to the sanctions, among other things, it was difficult for players to pay their salaries. Now the same situation may lie ahead.

“In a way, the crisis in Ukraine has overshadowed the Jokers all the time it has played in KHL. We are now at a really critical stage, even though the situation was difficult in 2014 as well, ”says Westerlund.

In the winter of 2014, Russia began conquering the Crimean peninsula the very next week, when the Sochi Winter Olympics were over.

Westerlund is following the ongoing crisis with concern and hopes that an agreement can be reached soon.

“I don’t see that the Jokers need to make strong decisions in one direction or another, but listen in which direction the situation is evolving. We are next to a big neighbor, and we should be able to look at the situation for more than a decade, ”says Westerlund, 64, at his home in Vierumäki.

The hockey player still follows the events of the sport closely, and skis.

“It’s been a lot of skiing, it’s a good course of exercise,” Westerlund says, before delving deeper into the current state of the Jokers and KHL.

“If they’re real fans, they’ll continue to be.”

Jokers supporters association Eteläpääty ry demands the withdrawal of the team from KHL due to the crisis in Ukraine.

Westerlund also expects support from supporters.

“Supporters are of great importance and need to be considered as a whole. But I don’t know if that’s the group whose voice should be listened to in the first place. If they are real fans, they will continue to be so. ”

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Even in the face of big situations, Westerlund says sport should not be at the forefront of making decisions.

“Many others are deciding on it before the sport. I think the Jokerit listens with the ears of the state leadership and is connected to it. It has to be monitored hour by hour and day by day as it develops. ”

“For example, Marko Anttila has developed a lot in KHL.”

Is there Vladimir Putin the eastern league come to an end and already lived its time?

“I look at it through sports. KHL has been an enriching affair in the hockey operating environment. It has brought a lot more. KHL is the best hockey series in this hemisphere, absolutely, ”Westerlund says.

In the hemisphere, Westerlund means Europe in particular.

“Although KHL has divided people and has different perceptions of it, it has taken Finnish hockey forward. The majority of the Finnish Olympic gold medalists were KHL players. KHL enables a new level alongside the domestic League. For example Marko Anttila has developed a lot in KHL. ”

Anttila is one of the key players in the Jokers and the Finnish national team. He played his first matches at KHL already in the 2013 season at Metallurg Novokuznetsk.

Marko Anttila in the Jokers’ Exercises.

In the beginning KHL had significant plans to expand into Europe when it replaced the Russian Super League from 2008-2009.

Due to the situation in Ukraine, enlargement to the west has come to an end.

“Actually, it’s been around for a long time, and expansion has only weakened over the years,” Westerlund says.

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Currently, in addition to Russian teams, KHL has one team from Kazakhstan, China, Latvia, Finland and Belarus.

Westerlund will not start weighing in on where the Jokers could play if it missed out or had to leave KHL.

“I don’t know what it could mean. Jokers are considered a company that brings color. Of course it would bring it to the League as well. There are more people in the people who hate than love the Jokers. ”

The return would require the consent of the league’s shareholders, ie the league clubs. In addition, the Jokers should redeem the league share for themselves.

When the Jokers left the League, it paid other clubs some four million euros in compensation.

At least the hockey in the metropolitan area would get the much-needed new tension from the return of the Jokers.

“There are more people in people who hate than love Jokers.”

Economically KHL has been an impossible equation for clubs, made to work by millions of Russian oligarchs alone. The Jokers have made an annual loss of EUR 11-15 million.

Due to the ownership of the Hartwall arena in the Jokers’ home hall, playing in the Finnish League could also be difficult. The hall has been owned since 2013 Gennady Tymoshenko mixed Boris and Igor Rotenbergien company Arena Events oy.

Boris Rotenberg and Timtchenko also have Finnish citizenship. Both are as well On Britain’s new sanctions list.

The largest owner of the jokers is 60 percent Jari Kurrito whom Harry “Hjallis” Harkimo sold its stake in May 2019. The remaining 40 percent of the organization is owned by Norilsk Nickel Harjavalta Oy, a mining company with a Russian background.

In practice, the main background of the Jokers is the main owner of the Nornickel Group Vladimir Potanin.

Jokers after Erkka Westerlund coached another season 2017–2018 Salavat Yulayev Ufa. A year in Russia opened the eyes of Westerlund.

Westerlund and his coaching staff tried to change the Russian authoritarian coaching style, but eventually had to give up.

In a couple of months, Westerlund noticed that the players didn’t want their own thinking but instructions and commands.

According to Westerlund, the top-down disc culture was also reflected in the Olympic finals in Beijing. Finland played as a team, Russia as individuals.

“In terms of player materials, the teams were relatively at the same level, but in the team game, Finland was at a completely different level than Russia.”

Read more: Coach coach Erkka Westerlund offered his players a day off in the KHL league, but it became a drink day for many: “I had never encountered such a thing in Finland”

Of the year In the 2006 Olympic finals, Finland, coached by Westerlund, lost to Sweden by the tightest possible goal by 2–3.

“It was expected that Finland would receive Olympic gold at some point. Gold was a continuation of the development of Finnish hockey. [Päävalmentaja Jukka] Jalosen know-how and experience was important Napsu that gold came now, ”says Westerlund.

Still Westerlund would be interested in going to coach KHL if he got a good offer?

“I have received offers, but at the moment I would not sign a contract. All people need to live pretty accurately with the current situation. ”

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