TPS: n to the head coach To Jussi Ahokka the seventh match of the puck league playoffs was a ordeal, but the young coach got into a much worse position five years ago.
Raimo Helminen took TPS to the League finals last season, and it shouldn’t be left under it – at least not much. Ahokkaan, 41, washed in Turku would have started sluggishly without a semi-final place.
At the beginning of 2017, Ahokas lived a slightly different moment. He had traveled with his wife Elinan with Montreal to watch the youth World Cup puck.
There was a disco holiday trip in the thoughts, which was hit by one match as a commentator in YLE’s newsstand. The rest of the time was set aside primarily for the wife, the puck, and touring the city.
Ahokas wanted to see how the Young Lions thrive in Montreal because the head coach’s wash was reserved for next year’s World Cup.
Jukka Rautakorpi got a surprise kick in the middle of the race and Ahokas, who was already there, was called to the emergency.
“I was a young coach, which I could have done. I had nothing but to lose. It was a tough experience, ”Ahokas says during the league playoffs.
The drama of the situation was increased in its own way by the fact that Rautakorpi was exactly the person who hired the Ahokka Hockey Association. An inexperienced coach would take the place of a domestic legend – and even staggeringly in the middle of a short tournament.
The only thing was to save the Young Lions series at the top level.
“We were in the same room with my wife then, of course. She saw that the man was under a little pressure in the bowl. ”
Ahokas jumped on the moving train, got to know the players, chatted with them, tried to untie the clicks that had gone into the knot and saved what could be saved.
When the World Cup tournament was over and the Young Lions series was saved, the pressure on Ahokka was released. He had a fever of 40 degrees. The body gave up.
That is what Ahokas is now thinking about what it will affect the human mind when there is nothing in sight to destroy.
Two years after the Montreal drama, the mood was different. The Young Lions celebrated World Cup gold in Vancouver and Ahokas won a gold medal with the players.
Aarne Talvitien The gold medal of the youth team being skipped was big puck in Finland, but even bigger in Canada. As a European country, it is not easy to win the World Cup in Canada.
“If I were a North American coach, I would already be in the NHL. That’s how it would go, ”Ahokas says and raises Dominique Ducharmen highlighted as one example that rose from the Canadian youth team to the Montreal NHL.
Ahokas will load all of his energy into the success of TPS this spring and the next two seasons, but doesn’t cover up his big dream of coaching one day in the NHL.
“It’s a dream and a goal, but it is not known when it could come. Now the Ball Club is a priority. ”
Ahokas was born in Oulu, but there are no memories from there. The family moved to Iraq, Yemen and Libya to work as an engineer when Jussi was less than a year old.
In those countries, little boys were allowed to chase scorpions on the dusty sandy fields, there was no information about hockey.
“It was built in Iraq To Saddam Hussein bomb shelters, ”Ahokas throws, adding that the family went to a wedding in the mountains of Yemen, which says the terrorist organization al-Qaeda began operations.
More than 30 years ago, Finns built a lot in those countries and the Ahokka lived in the Middle East until the boy turned seven.
Ahokas did not learn hockey lessons in Espoo. He became a coach in a very simple way. The young goalkeeper noticed that the puck was not gripping properly.
There were a lot of companies, a little less profit.
“As a young man, the headdresser couldn’t stand failures.”
At the age of 20, Ahokas found himself a puck coach, but he had run camps for young goalkeepers since he was 16 years old.
International the school provided an English skill that has survived numerous trips to North America. Language issues would be fine if the NHL dream ever came true.
Before that, we have to find ways to stop Ilves and ruin the Tampere dream final.
Ilves – TPS can be expected to be very smooth. Both have enough attacking power, the goalkeepers are in tune and Ahokas is happy to praise Ilves’ defense.
“A tough series is coming, 2–2 were also played in the regular season. The lynx is very skating and they have a good finish, but I see we have a chance. We struggle and throw ourselves, even if these sound like clichés, but when we are united, we can achieve anything. ”
In the second semi-final series, Tappara and Kouvola’s KooKoo will meet. The third local final in the history of the league is expected in Tampere. In Helsinki, HIFK and the Jokers won the championship in 1983 and HIFK and Espoon Blues 2011.
No local final has been played in Tampere, but a great tasting came when dear enemies faced in the league quarter-finals in 2017. At that time, a series of seven matches was needed until Tappara continued to the semifinals.
There are still two obstacles in the way of the Hämäläinen dream final and one comes from Turku and the other from Kouvola.
Tappara and KooKoo will meet in the first semi-final on Friday at 6.30 pm. Ilves – TPS and KooKoo – Tappara will be played on Saturday at 5 p.m. Cmore shows the matches live.
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