Marko Tuomainen arrives in Mikkeli after a top season.
Mikkelin Jukurien’s new head coach is Marko Tuomainen. The expected and anticipated news was revealed at a press conference organized by Jukurie.
Tuomainen coached the Mestis club Iisalmi Peli-Karhu for the previous two seasons. He became the club’s head coach last year and immediately led IPK to victory in the regular season and eventually to the first Mestis championship in the club’s history.
The head coaching job in the main league is Tuomainen’s first in his career. Previously, the former NHL and national team player has coached in the SM league as an assistant coach at KalPa and JYP.
The contract signed with Jukurei covers the next two hockey seasons. Coaches belong to Tuomainen’s coaching group Jukka Ahvenjärvi and Jesse Welling and goalkeeper coach Riku Helenius. The new coaches Welling and Ahvenjärvi also operate on a two-year contract.
Tuomainen expects an active game from his new team.
– The goal is that Jukurit will continue to play the same kind of game during my time, which it has played during the last seasons. We have discussed Olli Jokinen with a lot about the game, and we especially see the future of hockey in a very similar way. I want Jukurit to be an active, well-communicating, fighting and skating team in the coming seasons as well, Tuomainen says in Jukurit’s press release
Players Tuomainen are familiar with play in IPK. Jukurit announced on Thursday that it had signed contracts with the three players who celebrated the championship in IPK: they will put on the Jukurit shirt Ludwig Persson, Juuso Arola and Valtteri Koskela. Jukurit also loaned players to IPK last season.
Olli Jokinen, who left Mikkeli, continues his coaching career in the Swedish premier league team Timrå.
The news will be updated.