The body of the Finnish World Cup team consists of 19 recent Olympic winners.
3.5. 21:31
Tampere
Lions head coach Jukka Jalonen wonders the question of why not go to the World Cup of Hockey with the regular players of the Olympic team.
In Beijing, Jalonen and his coaching team were pumped into the team with a unique spirit, a will to fight, a will to win and the ability to turn tight matches for themselves.
The rise of the Sweden match with last-minute goals to an overtime win was one of the triggers for Beijing’s path to success. In the end, the route went like a highway along its Olympic gold.
Each player received an eternal crown and merit in their career that will never be forgotten.
Everything went so well in Beijing in February that the idea arises whether the same spirit can get on the second time with an almost identical team. Would an Olympic win still be enough for the players?
“We selected the best players from Europe for the Olympic team and now the best players from the NHL were selected for the World Cup team, which were obtained. Then it is quite logical that it is the backbone of the Olympic team when there is quite a bit of time for those games. ”
“There’s probably nothing unclear about that, and it wouldn’t make any sense to replace them, which were a great success at the Games.”
The North American NHL did not open big gates towards the World Championships, as the best Finns today also play in the best clubs of the series and continue through at full throttle.
Nothing According to Jalonen, it is not a question of re-pumping the Olympic spirit. A new tournament is being played in Tampere and Helsinki, although very far the Lions are playing with familiar faces.
The group now selected includes as many as 19 hockey players who played in the Olympics. Only a very small number of Olympic players will be missing from the World Cup starting in Tampere next week.
“I see it’s the other way around,” Jalonen says of the upliftment.
“We’ve been on that path once and we know what it takes. You can already see from this that we have a spirit on the team that we cannot create with new players. ”
“Nothing needs to be blown, it exists there. And then, when there is a game, it is pulled in full. It does not require any miracles. There is a very good mood inside the team and it is still condensing at the point where the group is locked and everyone knows they are involved. It’s a climax. ”
Jalonen says that until then, the construction and unification of the team is still a bit uncertain when there are players who do not know whether they are on the team or not.
“It’s natural and it’s part of this process.”
Building a team is always a matter of interpretation for their own process and the selection of the last few players. Jalonen sees no point in changing the team just to bring new blood.
“You can’t be stupider.”
Lions has won two adult World Championship golds and most recently the Olympics under Jalonen. In the two previous home races (2012 and 2013), Jalonen did not get a team built that would have even brought a medal.
The new Olympic winners cannot go for anything other than the championship.
“It’s always been done lately, but it’s useless to ruin any gold medal. We focus on doing things so well that we have seams to fight for the championship. That may not be enough either. ”
Finland will play in the Swedish EHT tournament from 5 to 8 May. and the World Hockey Tournament will start in Finland on 13 May.
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