World Hockey Championship match – quarter-finals: Czech Republic – USA, May 25, 2023, Tampere. Czech coach Kari Jalonen after the lost match.
Prague – The future of Finnish coach Kari Jalonen with the ice hockey team remains uncertain even after today's meeting of the executive committee of the Czech Ice Hockey Association. The union will decide based on the detailed report, which general manager Martin Havlát has to prepare together with the implementation team by June 20. Union president Alois Hadamczik told journalists.
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“The executive committee takes a very responsible approach to this. The negotiations are very long and demanding. We took some time to evaluate everything correctly,” said Hadamczik. “Martin Havlát was given the task of drawing up a detailed plan, then we will decide whether the implementation team will continue or not. His message should be purely about what and how exactly it will be towards the home World Cup. The date when we will then decide, so far we don't have it,” added the union boss.
Jalonen's compatriot Fredrik Norrena, a former goalkeeper who worked for the team as one of the video coaches, ended up in the team. “Kari Jalonen said that he doesn't want the colleague from Finland with him. It means that he will be here alone as the Finnish coach,” said Hadamczik.
The 63-year-old Jalonen, who also led the Finnish national team in the past, took over the team last year in March after the dismissal of Filip Pešán. In May, at the World Championships in Tampere, he ended the Czech hockey players' ten-year wait for a medal from a major event by winning bronze. However, in this year's defense, the Czechs lost 0-3 to the United States in the quarter-finals in Tampere two weeks ago and finished eighth, which is the worst ranking of the national team in history.
Jalonen has a valid contract until the next domestic championship year in Prague and Ostrava.
