Finland head coach Jukka Jalonen points from the bench during quarterfinal round action against the Czech Republic at the 2021 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship at Arena Riga on June 3, 2021 in Riga, Latvia.
photo: © International Ice Hockey Federation / Andre Ringuette
Finnish coaching legend now behind Italy’s bench
When a coach has won three IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship titles (2011, 2019, 2022), an Olympic gold medal (2022), and a World Juniors (2016), and led his homeland to the top of the IIHF World Ranking, you wouldn’t expect him to sign with a 20th-ranked national team competing in Division I Group A.
But that’s exactly what Finnish legend Jukka Jalonen did last summer when he signed a two-year contract with Italy, the host nation for the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Initially, the Italian Ice Sports Federation approached Jalonen to see if he could help them find a coach. Yet as the talks continued, Jalonen showed interest in coaching the Azzurri himself, and a deal was struck.
In a sense, Jalonen is returning to Italy because this is not the first time the 62-year-old Riihimaki native has worked in that country. In 1998-99, about six years into his career behind the bench, he coached Alleghe in the Alpenliga. He only stayed there for a season, but it left an impression that made it easy for him to accept the new challenge of coaching the Italian national team.
“I guess it came as a surprise to many, but I had a good feeling about this, and I figured it would be a nice challenge to try to help take Italy toward the top,” Jalonen told IIHF.com. “Especially with the Olympics approaching. I didn’t know too much about Italian hockey, but I did know that the northern region is true hockey country.”
Jalonen is now based in Bolzano, which co-hosted the 1994 Worlds with Canazei and Milan, the site of 2026 Olympic hockey. His appreciation for Italy’s domestic talent has grown.
“Italian players are hard-working and they’re proud to represent their country,” Jalonen said. “I don’t think everybody realizes that Asiago, Bolzano and Val Pusteria, the three Italian teams in the ICE Hockey League, are good teams. Val Pusteria recently beat Salzburg at home, while Salzburg beat Lahti Pelicans in the Champions Hockey League. So we have a lot of good players in the league.”
Earlier in November, Jalonen debuted behind the Italian bench at the Tamás Sárközy Memorial Tournament in Budapest, and it was quite a promising start. Italy won the tournament with a perfect record, allowing only five goals in three games against Hungary, Poland, and Slovenia.
When a coach has won three IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship titles (2011, 2019, 2022), an Olympic gold medal (2022), and a World Juniors (2016), and led his homeland to the top of the IIHF World Ranking, you wouldn’t expect him to sign with a 20th-ranked national team competing in Division I Group A.
But that’s exactly what Finnish legend Jukka Jalonen did last summer when he signed a two-year contract with Italy, the host nation for the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Initially, the Italian Ice Sports Federation approached Jalonen to see if he could help them find a coach. Yet as the talks continued, Jalonen showed interest in coaching the Azzurri himself, and a deal was struck.
In a sense, Jalonen is returning to Italy because this is not the first time the 62-year-old Riihimaki native has worked in that country. In 1998-99, about six years into his career behind the bench, he coached Alleghe in the Alpenliga. He only stayed there for a season, but it left an impression that made it easy for him to accept the new challenge of coaching the Italian national team.
“I guess it came as a surprise to many, but I had a good feeling about this, and I figured it would be a nice challenge to try to help take Italy toward the top,” Jalonen told IIHF.com. “Especially with the Olympics approaching. I didn’t know too much about Italian hockey, but I did know that the northern region is true hockey country.”
Jalonen is now based in Bolzano, which co-hosted the 1994 Worlds with Canazei and Milan, the site of 2026 Olympic hockey. His appreciation for Italy’s domestic talent has grown.
“Italian players are hard-working and they’re proud to represent their country,” Jalonen said. “I don’t think everybody realizes that Asiago, Bolzano and Val Pusteria, the three Italian teams in the ICE Hockey League, are good teams. Val Pusteria recently beat Salzburg at home, while Salzburg beat Lahti Pelicans in the Champions Hockey League. So we have a lot of good players in the league.”
Earlier in November, Jalonen debuted behind the Italian bench at the Tamás Sárközy Memorial Tournament in Budapest, and it was quite a promising start. Italy won the tournament with a perfect record, allowing only five goals in three games against Hungary, Poland, and Slovenia.
Finland head coach Jukka Jalonen looks on from the bench during Preliminary Round - Group A action against USA at the 2023 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship at Nokia Arena on May 12, 2023 in Tampere, Finland.
photo: © International Ice Hockey Federation / Andrea Cardin
Naturally, Jalonen – the former coach of Liiga clubs like Ilves, Lukko, and HPK – commands the players’ attention when he walks into the dressing room. Success does that.
Commenting on the Budapest tournament, Jalonen said: “I was pleasantly surprised by our play. The guys played hard and gave their all. Maybe there were some questionable choices with the puck when our players tried to make plays and turned the puck over. We need to learn the right way to play so that we can win games. But it’s nothing that can’t be fixed. The work with the coaching staff has got off to a great start, and the players have bought into what we’re trying to sell them.”
Jalonen said he can already see a difference between now and how the team played last season. With about 18 months to go before the puck drops at the Olympics, Jalonen and his staff have their work cut out for them, but this canny strategist sees it as a challenge.
“We have a lot of good players here, and for our December tournament we’ll bring in some new faces,” Jalonen said. “Of course, we can’t ice three strong teams like bigger nations such as Finland, but maybe two.”
His main focus is on the Olympics, though. Italy’s best Winter Games finish ever (seventh place) came on home ice in 1956 in Cortina, the ski resort town co-hosting with Milan in 2026. There is room for improvement.
“I hope we take even more steps so that we can put up a fight there,” Jalonen said. “Most other teams will be full of NHLers, and it’ll be interesting to see whether we can shake them up a little.”
In the long run, Italy’s biggest challenge is its minor hockey system. Many Italian players leave the country at a young age and seek out opportunities in Czechia, Germany, Sweden, and Finland.
While Jalonen was hired to coach the national team, he hopes he can help improve the entire program: “For example, after the national team break, we brought together all our national team coaches to discuss our tournaments and exchange information.”
Bottom line: Italy should not be underestimated. According to Jalonen, it’s fertile ground for hockey growth, both now and in the future.
“The hockey culture is strong here,” Jalonen said. “Hockey has been played here since the 1930’s, and people know their hockey.”
Commenting on the Budapest tournament, Jalonen said: “I was pleasantly surprised by our play. The guys played hard and gave their all. Maybe there were some questionable choices with the puck when our players tried to make plays and turned the puck over. We need to learn the right way to play so that we can win games. But it’s nothing that can’t be fixed. The work with the coaching staff has got off to a great start, and the players have bought into what we’re trying to sell them.”
Jalonen said he can already see a difference between now and how the team played last season. With about 18 months to go before the puck drops at the Olympics, Jalonen and his staff have their work cut out for them, but this canny strategist sees it as a challenge.
“We have a lot of good players here, and for our December tournament we’ll bring in some new faces,” Jalonen said. “Of course, we can’t ice three strong teams like bigger nations such as Finland, but maybe two.”
His main focus is on the Olympics, though. Italy’s best Winter Games finish ever (seventh place) came on home ice in 1956 in Cortina, the ski resort town co-hosting with Milan in 2026. There is room for improvement.
“I hope we take even more steps so that we can put up a fight there,” Jalonen said. “Most other teams will be full of NHLers, and it’ll be interesting to see whether we can shake them up a little.”
In the long run, Italy’s biggest challenge is its minor hockey system. Many Italian players leave the country at a young age and seek out opportunities in Czechia, Germany, Sweden, and Finland.
While Jalonen was hired to coach the national team, he hopes he can help improve the entire program: “For example, after the national team break, we brought together all our national team coaches to discuss our tournaments and exchange information.”
Bottom line: Italy should not be underestimated. According to Jalonen, it’s fertile ground for hockey growth, both now and in the future.
“The hockey culture is strong here,” Jalonen said. “Hockey has been played here since the 1930’s, and people know their hockey.”