JYP has started under the command of Mikko Heiskanen with five losses. The vice-captain of the team, Juuso Puustinen, now requires his teammates to improve their posture.
Jaakko Palvaila,
Jussi Lindroos
The decline of JYP, which plays in the ice hockey SM league, deepens.
On Wednesday night, the Jyväskylä team suffered their fifth consecutive loss, when Kärpät took away points from Hippos with a score of 6–3. To be the head coach Jukka Rautakorvin raised after kicks Mikko Heiskanen criticized his leading players exceptionally harshly after the match.
Also the Vice-Captain of JYP Juuso Puustinen did not spare his words in an interview with after the match.
– I am ashamed that we conceded five goals. This morning, the head coach, in my opinion, took control of the team with a very tough meeting and I came really excited for this game. New patterns were agreed upon and then five goals were conceded. Be ashamed.
The coaching change made just before the SM league’s Christmas break has meant that the JYP crew has not been able to train much under Heiskanen’s command.
The collective agreement signed by the SM league and the ice hockey players’ association dedicates the Christmas breaks to spending free time instead of team training, so the players’ time has been spent preparing for and recovering from games in the rush of matches.
No more excuses
However, Puustinen states that he is tired of excuses.
– I can’t even explain anything anymore. We should look in the mirror, every individual in that booth. Now you have to perform and play, and not constantly go behind some reason. Every player has to look at his actions, says Puustinen.
In Puustisinen’s opinion, the change must start from the players themselves. The potential in the players and the team should be unearthed.
– If there are problems with self-confidence, the best way to increase self-confidence is to prepare as well as possible in training and in your free time. In Finnish sports, even seven-year-olds are taught that the holy trinity in sports is nutrition, rest and training. I don’t know if we have it right now, Puustinen states.