Arrival of the Czech hockey team from the World Championships in Riga and Tampere, May 26, 2023, Prague. Coach Kari Jalonen.
Prague – The coach of the ice hockey team, Kari Jalonen, admitted after the Czech team's return from the World Championship today that he had a hard time sleeping after the 0:3 quarterfinal defeat by the USA. The 63-year-old Finn had his head full of thoughts about what he could have done differently and better so that the national team would stay in Tampere over the weekend and fight for a medal instead of flying away.
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“I didn't sleep well. I was thinking over and over about what happened and what could have been done differently. But it will take some time to fully process it all and analyze it,” Jalonen said during today's interview with journalists.
“The World Cup is a process in which you have to constantly improve. Your form has to keep going up towards game number eight in the quarter-finals. Last year it worked, this year it didn't,” said Jalonen, in which the feeling persisted that the Czech team had not fulfilled its potential . “I believe that the team should have played better,” he added.
Injuries to key forwards Lukáš Sedlák and Filip Chytil, who remained out of the game and are already back in the lineup, played a big role – not only in his eyes they didn't jump. The team thus lost two centers right from the edge of the championship.
“The match against Latvia stopped our progress. We were looking for the right composition of attacks and as a team we could no longer grow and advance together. We had guys who were expected to score goals leave. We only had five strikers hit during the whole tournament. And that's terrible not enough. We needed that contribution to be bigger,” Jalonen said.
Questions and doubts were raised by the approach to the sensitive position of goalkeeper number one. The coaches did not determine a clear team number one. “I liked all three of our goalkeepers, they gave us a chance to win every time. But at night I wondered if we made a mistake with the division of roles. If we really shouldn't have said who will be number one, number two and number three. I don't know, I really don't. All three but they caught well,” he pointed out.
He does not accept the increased pressure on his position. He's used to it. “In this business, there is always pressure on you. From you journalists, from the fans… As a coach, you have to be able to live in this, it's completely normal for me. I've been doing this job all my life and I've always been under pressure,” stated Jalonen.
He did not want to comment on Alois Hadamczik's critical comments on the team's play, which the union boss published on social networks. “I have to talk to him personally. I haven't read his statement yet, so I don't want to say anything about it. He himself has been in this field for many years and knows how it goes. But I definitely want to meet and talk with him,” said Jalonen .
He is bound by a contract with the national team, which is due to expire after the next championship, which will be organized by the Czech Republic. “I don't want to comment anything else about it, I don't want to talk about my situation,” Jalonen said.
