The Jukurit, who secured his league against Pelicans, will continue under the command of Jonne Virtanen.
In mid-January, the head coach of the Mestis team in Turku in mid-January Jonne Virtanen37, will continue in Mikkeli for the coming season. According to Sports, the Turku coach’s contract covers the 2025-2026 season.
In January, Virtanen used a league option in her Mestis Agreement and moved to pilot the Jukuri stuck in the series in the Finnish Champions League. At the same time, the Jukuri freed up their previous head coach Marko Tuomainen.
Virtanen coached Jukurs in the regular season for 19 matches. Of these matches, the Jukuri won five and expected to play the Playout series against the Lahti Pelicans.
After losing their opening match in the Playout Series Virtanen’s Jukurit won the Pelicans four times in a row, thus retaining their league. At the same time, the Jukuri drove to the Pelicans league qualifying against the winning Jokers of Mestis.
Virtanen has advanced rapidly in his coaching career. After his long career in the spring of 2022, Virtanen moved directly to the Finnish series HC Indians head coach for the season 2022-2023. After that, Virtanen coached TUTO for a year and a half before moving to Jukuri.
In the first Mestis season of Virtanen, TUTO fell in the quarterfinals and when Virtanen left Turku, the team was ranked eight. In the end, the Jokers sent TuTo to the summer holidays in the quarterfinals of 3-0.