If Heikki Hietanen wants the presidency of the Finnish Hockey Association in November, his election defeat is as likely as a Finnish hearing, writes journalist Pekka Holopainen.
Pekka Holopainen Sports journalist
Member of the league board for 13 years. CEO of the league club for five years and chairman for the same number of years. Secretary General of the National Sports Association for eight years. Member of the organizing committee of five World Championships organized in his home country and general secretary of two home championships. Member of the board of the International Sports Federation for the third year. Three times leader of the Olympic delegation in his sport. Memberships of several sub-committees of the International Sports Federation. For seven years, the CEO of the most important coaching and development center for the sport that means the most to Finns. Age 64 and the unwavering support of the strongest Finnish influencer in the sport as a tailwind.
When the meeting of the federal council that elects the new chairman and shapes the government is a good month away, the question is not whether to elect Heikki Hietanen As the highest trustee of the Ice Hockey Association. It’s like how on earth a person loaded with such irresponsible sea routes has never operated in that position.
Right and left hand
One explanation is the most Finnish genre influencer of all time, ie Kalervo Kummolafor whom Heikki Hietanen has been both left and right hand at his best.
The position of the immediate successor of an undisputed great man is not easy in any area of life. Who would have wanted to plunge down a hill right after Matti Nykänen vented at the bottom of the montu?
The outgoing president of the union Harri Nummela stepped into this post-Kummola minefield in 2016. The sporting success of his season – including two men’s and two under-20 World Cup golds, Olympic gold and the women’s just scandalously lost World Cup final – was mainly excellent. But Nummela also got things on his desk, such as being the deputy of the CEO of a giant financial house, and of course that financial house too, would preferably stay away.
For example, in terms of communication, the racism scandal was catastrophic for the Ice Hockey Federation and the women’s national team was marked by a bloody power struggle between the head coach and the players. Top sports success also fell on the chalk lines, and above all, the harshest hockey meter, the NHL, has started to give very blunt data that the crown jewel of the Ice Hockey League, the Finnish Player Path, has been covered in thistles.
The provision of reserve opportunities and the percentage of young Finns breaking into playing NHL lineups do not lie.
Situation under control
Hietanen, who knows everything and has experienced everything, is perceived as the only chairman candidate who would have the skills to take control of the situation and the field, put the ship on the right course again and pass the baton forward. As the only counter-candidate, St1 owner Mika Anttonen after refusing, the chairman of the SM league has been mentioned Heikki Hiltunenwhose sport background is, of course, featherweight compared to Hietase.
So far, Hietanen has not made his name available to speculators. When or if he does that, there’s no need to worry about the election result anymore.
The chairmanship is a position of trust, but the operational department of the Ice Hockey League is also facing interesting challenges. Managing director Sami Kauhanen will tell the federal government in the near future who, based on the interview round and applications, would be the best person for the federation’s new top sports director. According to Urheilu’s information, Pesti would be interested at least in the highly paid sports director of the Turku Palloseura Rauli Uramaa. When asked, he did not want to comment on the matter.
Urama would not step onto foreign soil, as he already managed a very similar job description in the union from 2012 to 2019, which has also been planned for the current top sports boss.
The situation would be a so-called win-win to the extent that if the union considered Urama to be the best applicant, HC TPS would completely agree. If the Supercell pohats who own Tepsi’s league joint-stock company really stop writing blank checks, getting used to the new normal at the HC TPS office could start with this recruitment.