Mika Strömberg says that the Jokers were one big family in the 1990s. After every home game, we went out to eat.
The summary is made by artificial intelligence and checked by a human.
Jokerit was a successful team in the 90s.
The close-knit team also spent time together outside the rink.
The team entertained legends of Finnish hockey such as Teemu Selänne and Mika Strömberg.
Mika Strömberg wants to coach professionals in the future.
He has fun memories of his teammates and coaches.
The 1990s was the Golden Age of Jokers.
The club won four Finnish championships and two European cups. The team was starred by such names as Teemu Selänne, Otakar Janecky, Markus Ketterer, Walter Immonen and Mika Strömberg. All legends of Finnish hockey.
Strömberg says that Jokerit was a particularly tight team at that time.
“There wasn’t a home game where we all went out to eat together,” he says.
Friendship outside Kavalo was one of the reasons for success.
“We were all good friends. They talked about all kinds of things at dinner there. Nothing can replace those friendships.”
52-year-old Strömberg, the top player of his time, was bringing Jokers to the league in 1989. He was involved in all the championships of the 90s.
When recalling the feats of three decades ago, Strömberg notices that not everything is so bright in his mind.
He starts to laugh.
“I don’t understand how a certain Teemu (Selänne) remembers all his own goals. God, I don’t understand how a person can… I can’t even remember my own games!”
IN THE YEAR 1992 Jokerit was piloted to Finland’s champion by a Russian Boris Maiorov.
“I can say that I have never before or since done such long laps as what Boris sometimes pulled. He got one workout rolling and skated around the court with his hands behind his back. We went through the same cycle for probably half an hour,” Strömberg said.
“Boris was a good coach, yes. He was a good guy.”
Mika Strömberg, Juha Lind and Teemu Selänne in 1996.
Jokerit won the following championships Hannu Aravirran under. Aravirta replaced the one who got fired Alpo Suhonen in the middle of the 1993–1994 season.
“Ara changed the training culture a bit, and we started to find our game. Relaxation and everything,” says Strömberg.
He smiles when he thinks about Suhonen’s time.
“Ape used to do wonderful workouts sometimes. He also did a fitness circuit on the ice. We were a bit wondering what was going on here.”
The last championship of the 90s was brought by a Swede Curt Lundmarkwho, in Strömberg’s words, knew how to guide the players “damn well”.
The puck Strömberg, who made a big mark with, was an elite team in the SM league, which also belonged Curt Lindström to credit names in Leijon. Strömberg was about to win the historic world championship in 1995. However, he never went to North America. It was a conscious choice.
““Hajlis” (Harkimo) was also a bit of a bummer,” he says.
Harkimo, who owned Jokerit, handed Strömberg a lucrative three-year contract extension.
“It was good cardboard at the time. I had no compelling need to go to the NHL. There was a family and everything. It took precedence.”
Later in his career, Strömberg played three years in Switzerland and another three in Sweden.
“Switzerland is an absolutely wonderful country. Really beautiful and the distances are short. It could have been there much longer.”
Strömberg has some advice for today’s players.
“I recommend that all players visit a foreign country at some point in their career.”
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“When you put on a helmet and drive alone, no one will say anything.”
Here we celebrate the Finnish championship of the Jokers in 1996. Waltteri Immonen receives a champagne shower from Mika Strömberg and the main owner Hjallis Harkimo.
at Strömberg was a hobby that Joker’s boss Harkimo didn’t like. Another passion of the ice hockey player was road racing. He raced on Finnish tracks.
The risk of injury to the star player made Harkimo suspicious.
“Hjallis didn’t really care about it. But it was my passion and I really liked driving in the summer,” says Strömberg.
Motorcycling brought a liberating counterweight to the disciplined ladle day, where coaches shout and orders rain down.
“When you put on a helmet and ride a bike alone, nobody comes to say anything or give advice in the middle of the race.”
Not a single game of the Jokers was missed because of the ghost.
“There was one worse slip, where my ankle got a bit sore, but nothing else,” says Strömberg.
“I still like to drive on the track, but I haven’t driven on the track for many years.”
Stromberg saw several top coaches in his long career, but one name rises above the rest.
“My favorite coach is Leo Äikäs. I’ve never had a better Kouts than Lexa,” he says.
Äikäs schooled young Strömberg from C-junior until the Jokeri representative team.
“When it started to become a little bit of everything else for a young boy in the A-junnu, Leksa was able to tear in the right way and keep me in the puddle. He didn’t let go,” says Strömberg gratefully.
Selänne has also named Äikäs as the most significant coach of his career.
The last head coach of Strömberg’s playing career was Pekka Virta In KalPa.
“We played a lot with the puck. We played puck. We fed a lot. I liked that way of playing.”
The youth national team piloted by Hannu Jortika in 1989. The players in the photo are Vesa Viitakoski, Mika Välilä, Mika Strömberg and Veli-Pekka Kautonen.
Stromberg in 2010 jumped from the rink directly behind the bench to become KalPa’s assistant coach. The role change was too sudden and violent.
Teammates suddenly became coachables who had to be led and commanded.
“It wasn’t that easy to start coaching the same guys I had played with a couple of months earlier,” he says.
Strömberg even felt like an outsider.
“I noticed pretty quickly that I no longer belonged to that group of dudes who hang out there and throw that flap. I was on the other side of the fence.”
It was difficult for Strömberg to let his old teammates down at the moment of defeat.
“I should have said it a little more firmly, but I couldn’t.”
Virta Strömberg praises. He learned a lot from the future champion coach who firmly believed in his own way of playing.
“Peksi told me quite frankly that I have to watch a lot of matches and videos and go through them. All the time. He taught me to analyze games, what happens in any situation and why. That world is completely different from the player’s eyes.”
Mika Strömberg’s goal is to coach a professional team.
Strömberg his path as a league coach ended in the fall of 2013, when he and Virta were fired from TPS. Strömberg moved back to his home in Eastern Helsinki. The circle closed.
Strömberg started piloting the Vuosaari Vikings. He works as the head coach of both the men’s second division team and the U20 team.
“There aren’t many days off here. All evenings are spent in the hall”, he describes his workload during the season.
Sometimes the calendar is so jammed that Strömberg has to choose whether to go to the men’s or youth match. He chooses the young. Men will be fine.
The idea of coaching at the top level still smolders in the hockey legend’s mind.
“I would like to coach professionals. The purpose would be to join a bigger club as a coach, and that search is on.”
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