BERN
Jussi Tapola looking at his new hometown Bern from the vantage point. A man’s fresh wash at the helm of the Swiss puck giant can also be described as a sight to behold.
In June, Tapola’s coaching career began a new, demanding phase as head coach of SC Bern.
There are high expectations for the big club every season. After the spring 2019 championship, SC Bern’s star has faded quickly and the peak years are far behind.
Finnish pilots are expected to win, but also to return bigger values.
– As the head coach, it is expected of me that the hockey DNA that was here before be returned to Bern. Each match has 16,000–17,000 spectators and everyone expects their team to fight, be physically strong and press for the goal, Tapola explains.
– Bern has traditionally been a working class team whose game is based on skating, fighting and fighting. We want to bring it, especially in home matches, because it is expected from the team, he continues.
The start has been promising and Bern has been in the top five of the series in the fall.
The club’s loyal supporters want wins and championships, but the most important thing is the team’s style and way of playing, both in winning and losing. Attitude is required in Bern.
– Recently, we lost at home to Zürich 1-6 and I was wondering what the audience is going to do now. The fans also understand losses and bad games, but if the team is lazy and the body language is bad, then the team is whistled harshly, the head coach describes.
Against Zurich, the fans stood behind the team, even though they were five goals behind. The game ended with the mentioned numbers.
– It was a big surprise to me that the support from the fans was huge, even though we were losing quite a bit. Losses are also understood here.
Where did the new training wash come from?
After Tappara’s championship celebrations last spring, there was a moment when it was possible that Tapola, who won four Finnish championships, would temporarily be without a job as a professional coach.
– When Bern got in touch and we reached an agreement, it was a great feeling to be able to challenge yourself and see European hockey in Switzerland.
Tapola started preparing for his upcoming coaching session in early summer and settled permanently in his new position already in July. The sleeves had already been rolled up since early summer.
– I watched all of Bern’s playoff games and the games of other teams obsessively. I looked at the team’s players, and we had Swedish assistant coaches already here, with whom I discussed the team and the club’s methods of operation.
He also established contacts with the head coach’s most important partners already in the summer.
– Getting to know the players was the number one thing for me right away in the summer. I wanted to know what they think about the game, training and elite sports in general, he says.
Tapola did not jump into completely unknown territory for him. He had a light contact with Bern from his years as an assistant coach of the Lions.
– The head coach of the national team at the time Laurin of Marjamäki we visited here a few years ago, when Jalonen’s Kari was Bern’s head coach. Times have changed since that visit. At that time, Bern was one of the four major clubs in the country, but now others have already grown into major clubs.
Well-known Finnish coaches have been seen in the post of head coach of SC Bern before Tapolaak. On Bern’s bench, they have led the team’s game in turn Olli Hietanen, Alpo Suhonen, Pekka Rautakallio, Hannu Jortikka, Antti TörmänenKari Jalonen and Toni Söderholm.
Return of old values
Tapola, 49, has made his mark as a top coach purely in Finnish puck culture. Six seasons as Tappara’s head coach, two seasons as an assistant coach of the league team and a couple of seasons as Tappara’s athletic director have marinated him in an already experienced professional.
– In Switzerland, game-related things don’t seem to stay on the shirt of many players. The moment when emotions are on the surface and different things start to happen in the rink, the common way of playing is quickly forgotten, says Tapola.
Whereas the Finnish players carry out the agreed upon things according to the rules from game to game, the Swiss hockey player gets caught up in the atmosphere of the game.
Tapola finds in his new coaching environment a valuable feature for his own work.
– I am positively surprised by the work ethic of the Swiss players. They train really well. The training culture and desire to develop is very good here.
Tappara’s successful teams in the SM league, piloted by Tapola, were based on a solid, almost unfailing team. The gold bundles defended diamond-like in fives and attacked sharply.
In Tappara, the tradition of the collective was at the core. It is not easy to instill these habits in a new environment.
– You can’t force your way into the team with just your own thinking. I’ve tried to bring things from hockey that have worked in the past, but I’ve also thought about new methods of operation for the team, he continues.
According to Tapola, if the top teams of the SM league and the Swiss league are compared on the same line, there are immediately differences.
– In Finland, league hockey is really regular and you usually know what’s coming. Here, the player has to react significantly more often to different situations. In the game, there can suddenly be pressure from five players or suddenly the players group up in the middle area, he explains.
Tapola still swears by strong game discipline and systematization, even though the ground in Switzerland is different from the SM league.
Ordinary everyday life with great resources
SC Bern is a major ice hockey club in Europe. The club is a conglomerate running the hockey and restaurant business, with an annual turnover of around 50–60 million euros. Bern’s player budget is also at the level of 15–16 million euros per season. In the SM league, the biggest player budgets are just over three million.
– We live a normal everyday life with the team and I don’t really think about what kind of turnovers or player budgets the clubs might have. With the team, we play, train and do everyday work, and those things don’t matter, head coach Tapola admits.
– You can see that there are a lot of employees in the company in different industries, and I don’t even remember all of them by name. You can feel the big size of the club there, but in the dressing room we are in the same way as in Tampere.
An organization operating with resources like SC Bern does not want to struggle for mid-level positions, but the goal is the absolute top of the league.
– The last four seasons have been slow at the club and now a change is expected. Here, we want Bern to get back into the championship fight and play there credibly. That is expected from me and the whole team, says Tapola.