Coached Tapparan to Finnish champion four times Jussi Tapola, 48, will take the reins of top Swiss club SC Bern for the next two seasons. On Tuesday, Bern announced the name of the coach who also celebrated the European championship (CHL trophy 2023) as a coach last season.
– There is a long season behind us and a lot of negotiations and contract disputes. When things finally work out, it always has its own great moment. At the moment, I feel excited and at the same time taken when I get such a responsible task. At least he knows that there is a lot of work ahead, Tapola grinned.
The master pilot will leave for Switzerland next week and immediately start practical work. Tapola doesn’t go banging in the country’s fifth largest city.
– You can’t go to Switzerland with success in mind and only hope for the best. It will be nothing but a kick in the ass, instructed the success coach.
Tapola emphasizes that first the day-to-day operations of the ice hockey club must be put in order last, such as raising training and the athletes’ daily life to the top European level.
– When you do things well enough, with enough energy and passion every day, it brings success – if the resources are in order. The realism is that a lot still needs to happen to fight for the championship.
Switzerland’s level has risen, thanks to Tappara
Tapola sees that the level of the Swiss league has risen significantly with foreign players (arrived from the KHL) and new organizations have risen to a new level in recent years.
– For example, last season’s finalists Geneve and Biel never fought for championships before. The competition in the Swiss league has grown significantly and there are ten clubs that are fighting honestly for all the money.
Tapola thanked Tappara’s organization, its players and coaching, which helped him, through success, also reach the top European ice hockey coach.
Tapola thought that his trump card in the final coaching negotiations was the long-term work he had done in the Tappara organization.
– The organization wants (in Bern) persistence. It is understood there that if short-sighted decisions are made every year, it will not lead to long-term results. Working everyday to a hard level and maintaining it are things that fascinate me, at least.
SC Bern is the cradle of Finnish coaches
They have previously served as Bern’s Finnish head coaches Olli Hietanen, Hannu Jortikka, Pekka Rautakallio, Alpo Suhonen, Antti Törmänen, Kari Jalonen and lastly Toni Söderholm.
Bern has won no fewer than sixteen Swiss championships, the most recent of which are from the seasons 2015–2016, 2016–17 and 2018–19. Coach duo Kari Jalonen – Ville Peltonen brought Bern the last two championships.
However, SC Bern’s previous four seasons have all ended in big disappointments, and it has not reached a better achievement than 8th place.
Tapola said that he also discussed last season’s number one coach in Bern Toni Söderholm with.
– Söde gave a message that there is a lot of good in the organization and a lot of things still need to happen if we want to get back to the path of successful years. He did a lot of things that will surely be continued. When it comes to the middle of the season – as in the case of Söde – then that first period is a lot of putting out fires, Tapola reminded.
Swedish co-pilots and Canadian club boss
In addition to the head coach, SC Bern’s organization currently has only a defender from Finns Julius Honka. There are no less than 20 players from Switzerland on Bern’s roster, while, for example, there are 14 domestic players in champion Geneva.
The loudest player is a Swedish goalkeeper Adam Reideborn, who played the previous four seasons in the KHL. Reideborn rejected CSKA Moscow in the season that ended as champions and was heavily criticized in Sweden. Now the man is finally leaving Russia behind.
Tapola’s assistant coaches are last year’s Swedish duo Christer Olsson and Mikael Håkansonthe American continues as the goalkeeper’s guide Jeff Hill.
– The question is whether the ideas coincide with the new coaching group. First you have to get to know people and get on the same page. I already got to meet them and we thought about a lot of things in the same way. It was a signal to me that it is good to move on from this, Tapola revealed.
– The strength here is that they already know the players and also the Swiss teams. In this way, knowing the whole has its own strength and I see this more as a strength.
Bern’s club boss is influenced by a Canadian, who once played as a top center in Europe for many seasons Andrew Ebbettwho is eight years younger than Tapola.
– You can quickly see if the chemistry is right. It hit with him. The heels are also a bit sore from this start. I believe that I can help him and in a way the whole club in creating a new strategy.
Tapola describes the club’s leading man as a passionate and smart hockey person.
– I believe that he does not feel that he is above everyone, but that together we can build a team and plan things. In all successful clubs, things are done together. It’s not like the sports boss just dictates and the coach coaches, Tapola points out.