Ice hockey club KooKoo’s new head coach Jouko Myrrä got fired from Tampere Ilves a year and a half ago. Now he starts working at the club where he has played.
Venla Rakkola,
Maija Tuunila
The Kouvola ice hockey club KooKoo has been chosen as the new head coach Joko Myrrä. He will succeed KooKoo’s former head coach in the position Olli Saloa.
Myrrä has previously been the head coach at Ilves in Tampere.
Led by Myrrä, Ilves won bronze in spring 2022. It was the team’s first medal in over 20 years. In autumn 2022, however, he was unexpectedly fired from the team. Ilves led the regular season in kicks.
According to his own words, Jouko Myrrä is no longer thinking about the events of autumn 2022 with Ilves.
– Of course, someone somewhere in the Prisma cashier line in the direction of Tampere might remind you about it. But no, it is one event in a person’s life as well as in this profession. There’s nothing more to it than that.
However, the encouraging messages received from people have felt good.
– Three hundred text messages, Whatsapp messages and a hundred phone calls came in the first few weeks. I interpreted it so that over the years, as a coach and as a person, I have left some mark on people, and they wanted to relate to my current situation in one way or another.
“Wearing a windbreaker to work”
According to Myrrä, August 2023 was the first time in 47 years that he did not step through the doors of the ice rink either as a player or a coach.
– There was a bit of a rush for interior furniture. In the Tampere dialect: feeling awkward.
However, now Myrrä has got the chance to return to the ice rink again. After being fired from Ilves, job offers came from abroad, but he still ended up taking KooKoo’s offer.
– When this contact from KooKoo came and I talked with the sports management, I got a deep, strong feeling in my guts that this is the place where I want to go to work wearing a windbreaker, so to speak, next time.
Myrrä himself played as the first diver in KooKoo in 1991–1992. He has good memories of the club, and in his opinion, KooKoo has “handled its affairs excellently” in recent years.
As a coach, Myrrä believes that hockey is above all a game of self-confidence.
– In order for a player to get the best out of himself, he must have a certain sense of security, that he is seen, heard and accepted in everyday life. Everything starts from meeting that person and the player.
Myrrä believes that the next season’s KooKoo will play in a way that the audience will also enjoy watching.
– From there, a certain appropriate freshness, relaxation and feeling of accomplishment is conveyed.
In addition to Jouko Myrrä, KooKoo joins the coaching team Tuukka Poikoinen, Manu Lähteenmäki, Matt Ranta and Jarkko Rissanen.
KooKoo finished 12th in the regular season this season and without a place in the playoffs.