Jukka Jalonen’s successor is Antti Pennanen, who scratched his halo. There is no doubt that Rikard Grönborg’s name has already been tossed around at some level in the Ice Hockey Federation, writes Pekka Holopainen.
Pekka Holopainen
Tre Kronor’s World Championships in spring 2019 were considered to have ended embarrassingly when Sakari Manninen a wrist shot in overtime of the quarter-final sent Sweden, who had taken the previous two World Cup gold medals, on their way home. Finland’s victory over Sweden was not considered a surprise in itself for decades, but in that situation, when the western neighbor is strengthened by 21 and Finland by two NHL players – one of whom was a debutant in the league and the other a marginal forward.
From Stockholm, the head coach was responsible for the end of his contract Rikard Grönborgwhich congratulated Finland and his colleagues From Jukka Jalo from the recent World Cup gold and the Jalo, especially from the hard work sample of coaching: shrinking the difference in level between the national teams assembled from the NHL and Europe to non-existent.
Grönborg’s justification for filling his World Cup boat to the brim with the NHL was obvious: in the spring of 2017, the World Cup gold had come with the help of 18, and the following spring, 19 NHL players.
A distant thought
The stylish, professionally answered Stockholmer’s journey was about to continue to Switzerland, and it seemed far-fetched that he would have anything to do with at least Finnish hockey in the future.
Then Tappara’s cabinet department exceptionally decided to reform before it is necessary, and the rest is history. The dynasty’s gold train didn’t even cough, and Grönborg is the hottest coach name in the republic.
Jalonen is coaching in his last World Championships. The successor was named a long time ago Antti Pennanen, whose road has rarely been sanded since the appointment. Ilves’ performance in the SC league playoffs was a disaster, and Pennanen’s eye for the game was not on point at the end of the season anyway.
Jalonen’s legacy is already very heavy in itself, and if the Lion King conjures a great success with his Euro men after the final tournament, the legacy weighs like a concrete anchor.
Comfortable in a beard trimmer
At the same time, the Swedish cosmopolitan, who operated in the same Arena as Pennanen, wears a custom-made suit and is comfortable with a beard trimmer, wipes the canvas with his young challenger. A lot of people in Finnish hockey circles have asked themselves which of these gentlemen should actually be Jalonen’s successor. Especially when the teams for the main tournaments of 2025 and 2026 are assembled from NHL players who are demanding in every way. That, if anything, is proven to be Grönborg’s own soil.
It says a lot about the national team coaching professional that Sweden received an average of 19 NHL players for Grönborg’s three World Cup tournaments in 2017-2019. During the following years, the average dropped to 9 before this spring, and Sweden even had historically poor results.
This does not mean that Pennanen cannot make a strong mark in Leijon, but the starting points are difficult for reasons both dependent on him and independent of him.
The temperament is known
In Finland, too, we could taste Grönborg’s already well-known temperament in Sweden. According to a colleague who knows Grönborg closely, the coach has even been ostracized in Sweden because of the man’s ways, even though he proved to be more than a prophet in his own country in the national team.
– He will do nothing to make his team win. Absolutely nothing. Such a mentality is not accepted by everyone in Sweden, and therefore Grönborg divides opinions very strongly. He also doesn’t care at all what people think of him.
If grown-up Finns’ image of the Swedish hockey coach is related to the personable and grandiose to Curt Lindströmnow Mansee’s man arrived from the other end of the line.
Grönborg’s contract in Tappara lasts until the spring of 2026. But if Pennanen’s job doesn’t take off at all, the contract is just text on paper and banknote paper. There is no doubt that this plan B has already been very quietly circulated in the Ice Hockey Federation as well.