Ice hockey | This is what the SM League’s newest foreign coach is like – “When I saw the city for the first time, I thought, wow”

For years Between 2009 and 2023, 14 consecutive seasons were played in the hockey SM league, during which the league did not see a single foreign head coach.

The long period of inbreeding ended last season when the Swedish-American Rikard Grönborg took Tappara under his command – and immediately won the championship.

Perhaps inspired by Tappara’s example or not, the SM league will immediately get more foreign talent for this season. Swedish Johan Pennerborn52, will start as JYP’s head coach on a two-year contract.

“I knew where Jyväskylä was on the map, but when I saw the city for the first time, I thought, wow! Jyväskylä is a great sports city”, Pennerborn immediately beamed at the opening ceremony of the league season on Tuesday in Helsinki.

Unlike his compatriot Grönborg, Pennerborn has drawn his puck knowledge almost exclusively in Sweden. During his long career as a player, he played for ten years in the divars of his home country, and right after that, in 2006, Pennerborn jumped into the coaching job.

In 2017–22, Pennerborn was the head coach of SHL team Färjestad. For the last two seasons, he worked abroad for the first time, at the helm of Graz in Austria.

“After the New Year, we were in contact with JYP for the first time. That started the process. I went to the interview three or four times and also visited Jyväskylä. In the end, everyone agreed and we made a deal,” says Pennerborn.

He didn’t call Grönborg about his new job.

“We are not close, mostly colleagues. I also wanted to form my own opinion. I did talk to some other people during the recruitment process.”

The SC league circles are already quite unknown to Pennerborn.

“Of course, I’ve always kept a superficial eye on the Finnish league, but by no means more deeply than that.”

“I had some Finnish players in Färjestad over the years. Ilari Melart, Jesse Virtanen, Tomi Sallinen and Jarno Kärki among other things,” Pennerborn lists.

“

We want to be a tough, hard-to-beat team. Straightforward, fast and rough.

JYP’s new commander has clearly studied the history of the SM league. He knows that he is the seventh Swedish head coach in the SM league in history.

“And Jyväskylä has never had a foreign head coach before. Of course, the new situation is also challenging in its own way at the beginning.”

“Even though I’m coming to a completely new series, I’m not going to change my own game philosophy. When I was contacted, JYP wanted me to bring my own style here.”

So what kind of hockey does the Swedish coach want JYP to play?

“We want to be a tough, hard-to-beat team. Straightforward, fast and rough.”

of Pennerborn the assistant coaches at JYP are Mikko Heiskanen and Juha-Pekka Haatajawho worked in the team already last season.

Pennerborn, who talks calmly in the interview, says that he does not want to be an authoritarian coach.

“I understand that in Finland the boss is the boss and ultimately I am responsible for things myself, but that is not my way of managing. I want to share the responsibility with the players and the coaching staff.”

“For example, I give superiority to someone’s responsibility. If I see it’s not working or the numbers are going down, then I might step in and ask what we could change or improve. This is my way of leading.”

JYP’s past few years have been sticky. The team has missed the playoffs for four consecutive seasons. Picture: Antti Aimo-Koivisto / Magazine photo

Last JYP, which has been successful for a decade, has been in a bad mood for the last few years. The team has been left out of the playoffs for the fourth time in a row, placing 13–15.

Last season was the culmination of a mess when Jukka Rautakorvelle hasty kicks were given, and the internal chaos of the club was closely discussed in pub
lic.

For this season, JYP has been renewed significantly. The big names are gone now Jerry Turkulainen, Reid Gardiner and Sami Niku. Also the former captain of the team Robert Rooba Lahti.

Expectations regarding JYP are moderate. In preliminary plans, it has been pushed to the middle ground of the league table between the lower middle class and the basement. Since no less than 12 teams advance to the playoffs this season, a return to the real games in the spring should be well within the limits of possibilities for JYP.

However, Pennerborn still can’t directly name his team’s goal.

“We actually have a meeting on this matter only on Sunday. We haven’t talked about it,” he says.

“But of course, this change process is also about JYP wanting to be better than last season.”

The SM league season starts on Tuesday, September 10.