"Bambi" Lehtosella hilarious memory of Kai Suikkanen - "Now guys, here's the thing"

KooKoo’s head coach Jouko Myrrä, who was dismissed, has been replaced by Kai Suikkanen, who last coached in the Liiga ten years ago, when he led Oulun Kärpät.

Former professional ice hockey player and current expert Mikko “Bambi” Lehtonen does not believe that the 67-year-old Suikkanen will bring tactical finesse to Kouvola. Instead, the attitude boost among the team members is guaranteed, according to Lehtonen, who has also played under the coach.

– The truth is he hasn’t coached in the Liiga for ten years, and no one was hiring him. No better coach from the younger generation wanted to step into that (KooKoo) disaster, Lehtonen reminds in the Urheilucast.

– Suikkanen had nothing to lose. If by some miracle he manages to keep KooKoo in the Liiga, then his phone might ring in a completely different way afterwards.

Lehtonen reminds that Suikkanen once made a similar miraculous rise in Austria.

– He went to Bolzano when the team was last in the league. Three to four months later, that group was celebrating the championship.

Tactical board in the trash

On the tactical side, Lehtonen does not believe Suikkanen has much to offer KooKoo.

– Kaitsuhan is not a tactical coach or a genius in game strategy. He is more of a manly guy who brings feeling, can ignite and bring energy. He fires up the team, manly, focuses on battles, and fights if necessary, Lehtonen lists.

– From KooKoo’s perspective, the game has not been great, so Kaitsu probably won’t fix that now.

Lehtonen also has personal experience playing under Suikkanen.

– Kaitsu was the coach in Kärpät when I was there too. It was a challenging time, and the first power play unit hadn’t produced results for a while. I thought we should start going through the game strategy. He just said, “now guys, in the next game, we have to score a damn goal,” Lehtonen laughs about his personal experience with Suikkanen.

KooKoo, who has lost all ten of its games this season in the Liiga, will play its first match under Suikkanen on Friday when it faces Jukurit at home.