Timrå’s head coach Olli Jokinen has come to the fore in many ways in his first coaching season in the Swedish ice hockey premiership in the SHL. Among other things, Jokinen has charmed the Swedes with his entertaining and attacking style of play, which has also brought results.
Known as a small club, Timrå returned to the main league four years ago, and it is currently in third place in the regular season.
– Of course, you can be satisfied with the whole, where we are in the league table and how the games have gone, but there is a long way to go and things to improve. The direction is right, Jokinen tells Urheilu.
Jokinen Jukurit was known for its entertaining hair-raising play and forward defense. The same elements have also been seen in Timrå, but according to Jokinen, the team has been able to play with the puck more and with different rhythms.
This has been made possible by, among other things, better quality player material. Especially in the attack, there are tough names who have also played in the national team.
– We have practiced a lot playing in the lead position and specifically staying on the puck. In that sense, the playbook is a little different than in Mikkeli, but basically the same. We try to defend the front and give it pressure, says Jokinen.
Swearing made headlines
In addition to an entertaining game, Jokinen has made headlines twice after waking up the team accompanied by swear words. The last one was seen two weeks ago, when Jokinen used the word “v***u” almost 40 times in his half-time speech in the Växjö match. Timrå was in a situation with a 0–1 loss and lost the match in the winning goal contest by 2–3.
– Of course, I can’t be proud of my way of speaking. There is no need to swear in any name. I’ve been hired here to change everyday life, but yes, it’s 99 percent positive and talking in a normal voice, says Jokinen.
The video of Joki, which caused a stir, caught the camera because Timrå has had a big goal to be closer to the fans. The club’s management and the team have also given the green light that the cameras can monitor everyday life all the time.
Jokinen explains that Timrå is trying to maintain the level of requirements. He reminds that the club has never won the Swedish championship, and it has not made it past the first round of the playoffs for several decades.
– Sometimes you have to try to wake up the team, but of course you can leave out swear words and find ways to wake up the team with the same message, but without swear words.
According to Jokis, the video has received a lot of attention and something that he himself would not want.
– But as I said, it is the club’s own content, what they want to show. I personally do not influence in any way what the club releases and what not.
– Of course, you have to live with your own words. Let’s try to learn and improve language use.
Called from North America
The video shared by Timrå also appeared in several North American hockey media, which published the video on their own social media channels. Someone even gave an interview on the subject For The Athletic.
Jokin is somehow surprised by the scale the video has reached.
– I don’t feel that I am such an important and interesting character that every thing I say needs to be written down, but apparently what is being done here seems interesting.
Familiar themes from Jukuri
The players haven’t had to be woken up often, because according to Jokinen, the workload has been 99% very good. Someone gets excited to talk at length about how important commitment and hard work are for an individual’s development and ultimately success.
The speeches are very familiar to those who followed Joki in Jukurei. Jokinen Timrå’s daily exercises include practicing small things such as exploit games, wrestling and mail fights.
Jokinen reminds us that it is also difficult to demand these from players if they are not practiced daily.
– There is usually a lot of talk about doing them, but they are not necessarily done everywhere in the final games. It is somehow new for this group that we do extra practices in the afternoon and go to the game and beyond in every practice.
Sweden doesn’t know yet
According to Jokinen, Timrå’s goal is to reach the top six and directly to the playoffs. However, Jokinen has had to be flexible about one goal, because before the start of the season he had an ambitious goal of handling all his media obligations in Swedish after the turn of the year.
He admits that he still doesn’t speak the language well enough.
– I set tough goals and set the bar high, but now I have to admit that I set it a little too high. I am by no means ready to speak Swedish yet.
Someone is certainly trying to improve his Swedish. It is complicated by the fact that the dressing room language is English and in Sweden they speak very good English in general.
– In some way, it may have slowed down my own learning of the Swedish language. It is of course a goal at some point to be able to communicate in the local language.