There is talent

Best part of the kickoff event last Saturday at Tallinn was that Ismo Lehkonen and I both came to same conclusion: Team Estonia has some good hockey talent.

So it seems that if we get all players committed to the program and get them to top shape we should have a good team. As we agreed with the team this will take a lot of work from everyone and players have to change their behaviour, training regime, lifestyle etc to be part of this team and reach the goals we have together.

So the first event was very positive and now we have to follow up with programs, additional national team training sessions, trip to Poland for continental cup etc... Lot's of work ahead and that's not only for players, but coaches and management alike.

We are looking forward to this season and a proud team Estonia.

Jukka & Ismo

And it’s time to begin the journey

With Journey I mean our new assignment with Ismo "Ika" Lehkonen to guide Estonian national hockey team during this upcoming season. We are both looking very much forward to help our neighbors and be part of making hockey more popular sport in the country. We do also realize that it is an honor whenever one has been offered a chance to represent a country in an official capacity. With this in our minds we will do the best we can and our goal is to bring Estonia back to Div-1 level at World Championships.

Right now we are collecting all possible information and Ahtikullervo Jögi from Jäähoki Liit is helping us in this task. As the information, game videos of team Estonia and opponents etc becomes available Ika and I will be able to build our plans, playbooks etc.

Right now Jäähoki Liit is working to arrange a minicamp to Tallinn at 29.8. This will be great as it will provide as a chance to get to know a lot of the potential national team players and also run them through some of the systems we are looking to use with the team. Since the team is scattered around hockey playing Europe during the season we also have to make sure we give players the needed training programs and provide them help as needed when they are with their teams. We really need to have players at top shape before the World Championships begin at Tallinn and when players will report to the training camp. Hopefully before that we can have another camp during one of the breaks in the leagues or during the Christmas holidays.

Anyway, we are really looking forward to work with team Estonia and it’s players. Ika and I will be updating this blog every now and then and tell you about the progress with the team and how things are going.

Jukka Ropponen

Getting close finally (I hope)...

One way or the other Goaliepro and myself will be involved in helping Estonian hockey and especially focus on the area of raising the level of goalie coaching at the country. This week I will meet with Riho Soonik of Eesti Jäähoki Liit to go through possible arrangements and try to agree how we can get started.

It's too bad that we could not meet the original deadline of August 2, but unfortunately some issues that were not in our control (Goaliepro's & Jäähoki Liit's)did hold up the process.

As a hockey and goaltending enthusiast this will be a pleasure for me to help Estonians, especially since I do visit the country often in business and it is really fast and easy to get there from Finland.

Hopefully we will have some details for you soon. Anyway, I am sure this will be fun and beneficial for goalies and Estonian hockey overall.

Jukka

Ps. Check out the interview of Estonian goalie coach Christian Adami at Goaliepro's annual summer camp (in Finnish).