Finland continues with Jalonen

31 Aug 2011 | Davide Tuniz

The World-Champion coach and all of his staff signed contract extensions through the 2013 World Championship.

The Finnish Ice Hockey Federation announced today the contract extensions of the entire national team coaching staff. Head coach Jukka Jalonen and assistant coaches Petri Matikainen and Pasi Nurminen signed extensions through to the end of the 2013 World Championships. The coaching trio’s original contracts were set to expire after the 2012 World Championships at home. Also, General Manager Jari Kurri and Team Manager Timo Jutila had their contracts extended.

Chariman Kalervo Kummola said in a statement that the Finnish Ice Hockey Federation originally proposed to Jalonen a contract to also cover the 2014 Winter Olympics, but the coach preferred a one-year extension. “We offered Jalonen a contract to cover the Olympics in Sochi, but in joint agreement we decided on a year's extension at this stage. We have an agreement that we will make the decision for the Olympic games by the 31st of August 2012.”

Despite Jalonen's declarations about his motivation to respect the contract, there were rumours of many KHL teams being after his services and even offers from NHL. Jalonen said, “I did not receive any concrete offers and didn’t even consider them. I was only concerned with being motivated to carry on with Team Finland.”

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