It’s an early Tuesday morning in January. The sleet falling from the dark sky doesn’t seem to bother the Brynäs coach, who cycles to the ice rink in Gävle as usual, Mikko Manneria.
At the ice rink, Manner discusses the team’s challenging situation and the upcoming training sessions of the day, before the players arrive at their workplaces.
– I love going to the hall every morning. After all, it’s easier to love when the team is doing well. But I have to come to the hall more often when we lose – to show character, leadership and stand behind our common values, Manner tells the Sportliv film crew following the coach’s working day.
A few days earlier, Brynäs IF has experienced defeat again – this time after extra time against the league’s top team, Växjö.
If the results don’t improve, Brynäs is in danger of being eliminated from its league position in the SHL, just like it happened two years ago. The team does not want to experience that again.
Manner arrived in Brynäs after the heavy spring of 2021. He gathers the team for a joint video meeting before the morning ice practice. Before going into the details of the team’s performance in the Växjö match, he reminds the players that they played a good match, even though the result was a loss.
– When things go badly, when fear is noticeable, you have to try to raise the team’s self-confidence. I just wish the hockey gods were on our side because we would have earned more points game-wise. However, we cannot blame others. We have to save ourselves, Manner explains his thinking to Sportliv.
During his time in Sweden, Manneri has had to grow spiritually. He has had to get used to losses and adversity. It hasn’t been easy, but he loves a challenge.
– I was a bad loser, but now I’ve lost so much that I’ve started to learn how to become a better coach.
Watch Sportliv’s mini doc Mikko Manneris.
The dream of coaching in Sweden
Mikko Manner’s roots are in Vaasa and Sport, but as a coach he made his mark in Oulu Kärpi. There, he worked as an assistant coach for four years, before he won the Finnish championship as head coach in his very first season in 2017–18.
In addition to being the head coach, he has worked Jukka Jalonen as an assistant coach in the national team since 2017. In that role, he has been able to take part in winning Olympic gold and a couple of world championships.
Manner was able to work in a fair amount of wind in both the club and the national team, until his last season in Kärpi came. After winning the regular season three years in a row with the Kärppi, seventh place was a disaster.
Manner was so used to winning that he had great difficulty dealing with adversity. He didn’t always know how to control the situation and act as he wished calmly in front of the team.
He has actively tried to improve his weaknesses, and thus develop into a better version of himself.
– If I make a mistake, if my emotions take over me and I get frustrated when the results are not as expected, I am the first to raise my hand. I apologize if I’ve spread a sense of panic and I haven’t been able to stay calm.
After the difficult season 2020–21, the Manneri family returned to Vaasa after several years spent in Oulu. Mikko felt that it was time to take a little breather and take a gap year from the duties of the head coach.
But then Brynäs IF got in touch.
– If you say “no thanks” in this job, it may be that there will be no new opportunity. I had dreamed of coaching abroad, and Sweden was my first choice.
Manner says it is a great honor to coach Brynäs. The traditional club from the puck town of Gävle is one of the most successful of all time in Sweden. The most successful years were in the 1960s and 1970s Salming’s with the brothers playing in the team. Later, Brynäs has trained players, such as the Finnish killer Anders “Masken” Carlsson and star forward of the Washington Capitals Nicklas Backström.
Brynäs’ most recent Swedish championship is from the 2012 season, but since then the club has been in a negative spiral. When Manner took the helm of the team, Brynäs had missed the playoffs for three years in a row, and was finally close to being relegated from the SHL to the Allsvenskan. The Finn took on a wounded team to coach, which had just survived a tough relegation qualifying series against HV71.
Manner’s challenging assignment is to make Brynäs one of the best teams in the league again. He has not been successful in that.
– The bad results make me feel a little bad because I really don’t want to be the guy who tarnishes the club’s great history. I want to be a coach who returns the club to where it belongs, Manner says with a burning look in his eyes.
In Manner’s first season, Brynäs improved his regular season ranking by three places compared to the previous season. After the tenth place, the team lost in the first round of the playoffs against Örebro.
The results in the second season have not been that much better. Despite that, Manneri was given an extension contract already in November.
He is grateful for the trust the club management has given him.
– I believe that they trust that we are on the right path. They see how we work. We are humble, hardworking and take care of each other.
Manner is a well-liked figure in Swedish hockey circles, even though Brynäs hasn’t had a good time under him. Because of his humble attitude and his personal Swedish, he has grown into a certain kind of cult figure. In Gävle, a Finn who speaks “rally Swedish” is really liked.
– I have been received super well. I do not know why. I can only be grateful for all the support that the fans and people here have given. They deserve us to be higher in the league table.
The modern management style of the continent
Due to the weak results, Manner’s way of leading Brynäs’ team has been put to the test. But even though the adversities have been difficult to break down, Manner has stuck to his style.
He does not believe in the authoritarian management style of the old days, where the team is whipped forward with threats and punishments. He is demanding, but at the same time wants the players to feel safe. That way, he believes the team will get the best results in the long run.
– My way is to protect the team. In the media, I always take the blame on my shoulders. My ego is such that I don’t have to blame anyone else when we lose. I bear the responsibility, Manner emphasizes and continues.
– But in the dressing room we have to be honest with each other. It can sometimes happen that the player takes the feedback too personally when I tell him things as they are. Everyone has different personalities, and as a coach you have to get to know the players to know where to pull the strings.
Manner wants all players to be able to truly be who they are and at the same time trust each other. He has experienced such an atmosphere in Leijon, where he has seen what kind of results the atmosphere can bring about.
– If the players have good self-confidence and they learn that it is not dangerous to raise your hand in the locker room and admit your mistake, then what will happen? Teammates start to appreciate his behavior and want to help.
– If we find that feeling and balance, together we can be more than the sum of our parts.
According to Manner’s way of thinking, players are free to be who they are, as long as they stay within the framework decided together.
Manner describes himself as a police officer when it comes to the team’s shared values. He is also the first to admit his mistakes if he has not been able to keep his head cool during the match. He doesn’t want to spread fear in the team.
– That is perhaps our team’s biggest common problem. Strong will and emotion take over us.
According to Manner, emotional outbursts cause problems on the field in different ways. Some players lock up, while others succumb to over-attempting, leading to personal fouls and unnecessary suspensions.
About the Swedish league system: “It’s a real competition”
Gävle is a puck-crazy town, which can really be seen and heard at Brynäs’ home matches. Manner has enjoyed the Swedish sports culture, which he says is different from the Finnish one, especially when it comes to team sports.
– The passion around teams and clubs is special here. I’ve always dreamed of playing or coaching in a league where you’re either in heaven or hell – you’re either a hero or a complete zero.
In addition to the great atmosphere, Sweden’s great ice rinks have made an impression on the Continent. Every match feels like a big event. In part, it is also thanks to the series system.
In the open league, matches are also important for teams that have lost their chances for the playoffs. For teams fighting relegation, the late season games might even be the most meaningful.
According to Manner, the series system creates the basis for teams to be supported both in the midst of ups and downs. It has also brought about the fact that Sweden’s second highest league level, Allsvenskan, is relevant and doing well.
– Allsvenskan includes clubs such as Djurgården, MoDo and Björklöven. 13,000 people were present at the AIK–Djurgården match. It’s something really, really great. It’s real competition.
– When you compete, you can’t always win. You might also lose, and you’ll have to live with those feelings. It strengthens character. It doesn’t help to complain about the series system.
After reaching Sweden’s highest league level in 1960, Brynäs has never been relegated. When Sportliv visits Gävle, the team is third last in the series, in twelfth place. After the regular season ended, the two weakest teams in the series qualified against relegation.
Brynäs still has everything in his own hands. With a successful finish, the team might even reach the spring playoffs. Mikko Manner is under a lot of pressure and knows that the team has really important weeks ahead.
– The biggest dream at the moment is that, as a coach, I would succeed in raising the team to the top. I don’t want to be the Finnish coach who came to Sweden and was a loser.
When asked about future plans in the longer term, Manner brings up a possible return to Vaasa, where his family still lives at the moment.
– One day it may be time to return to Finland and Vaasa, and try to help Vaasa Sport in some role, junior side or club management, recently Sport participated in the share offering with a “significant investment” (you will switch to another service) Mainland says.
– But I hope I don’t have to return to Finland for a while yet. I would like to continue developing myself abroad and become better and better.