Jyväskylä is a small town of about 130,000 inhabitants and JYP has never been considered as one of the “big” clubs of SM-Liiga. One year can change it all and while JYP still plays in the smallest arena of the league, their game this season was as big as it gets. With JYP’s championship Jyväskylä became only the 9th city to boast a team with the title. The previous addition to the list was Oulu in 1981.

 JYP promoted to SM-Liiga in 1985 finishing fifth on their debut season. In the spring of 1989 they entered the playoffs for the first time and went all the way to the finals where TPS Turku was stronger by wins 4-1. The turn of the decade was successful for the team. JYP won the regular season in 1992 and that season they made it to the final once more only to lose it to Jokerit, again 4-1. After this JYP’s star began to fade and the team spent most of their time in the lower half of the table. New rise began last season when the team finished fifth in regular season but lost to Tappara in the quarterfinals.

 This year JYP started the season strong and led the league for most of the fall part of the season. After Christmas though the team hit some rough times and was actually the worst team in SM-Liiga in January. Their lead had been so commanding though that they didn’t have to give it up despite the slump. By the time the playoffs started JYP was back in their normal shape.

 In the first round they faced TPS Turku and Alexander Salak, a red hot goalie. While TPS did all they could and Salak stood on his head at times, JYP advanced with wins 4-2. In the semifinal they faced the pleasant surprise team of the season, KalPa Kuopio who is also JYP’s local rival. JYP cruised through with relative ease only dropping one game. JYP had advanced to the finals for the first time in 17 years. There they faced Kärpät who had dominated SM-Liiga for the past five years. Many expected a tight series and so it was but only within games. The first three games ended all in favour of JYP by a single goal, the first game going to an extra period. In the fourth game JYP took a commanding 2-0 lead in the first period and extended it to 3-0 with a short-handed goal in the second. Things looked settled then but Kärpät found their aim in the late 2nd with two quick goals. Jari Jääskeläinen put Kärpät out of their misery at 55.27 scoring the 4-2 goal. With a fifth goal going into the empty net the party was ready to begin.

 Coaching is the key

Like those of all champion teams JYP’s tale comprises many interesting aspects. One can point out the fact that the team is 100% Finnish (though Slovakian Jiri Bicek did play with the team in the early season). This is a rare deal since the previous all-Finnish SM-Liiga champion was TPS in 1999. The head coach Risto Dufva has done a long career in hockey but this was his first success at the top level of Finnish hockey. In 1998 he was displaced from the head coach position of Kärpät (then in Division I) and while he has been successful in Mestis since then and worked as the assistant for the Finnish junior national team it took him until last year to land a head coaching job in SM-Liiga. Now he could show his old team Kärpät what he was really made of. JYP played a very smart style of hockey. They were defensively sound and while it may not have been the most entertaining thing to watch, it was very effective.

 One of Risto Dufva’s more eccentric tactics was to split the playing time between the goalies Sinuhe Wallinheimo and Pekka Tuokkola almost evenly. It may have been unorthodoxic but both goalies thrived from the competition and were excellent throughout the season. Even in the playoffs Dufva wasn’t afraid to change the goalies after wins. Due to this tactic and the outstanding performances of both goaltenders SM-Liiga reached the unconventional solution of awarding the playoff MVP title (Jari Kurri-award) to both Wallinheimo and Tuokkola. Wallinheimo has been a long-time netminder for JYP and was actually the back up when JYP last appeared in the finals in 1992. Last season he was rented to KHL and Dynamo Moscow for a big financial compensation which was then used to build this year’s team in Jyväskylä. This strategy paid off well too.

 Solid defense and effective offense

Defensively the team was solid with the lead of Olli Malmivaara, Jyrki Välivaara and Ville Mäntymaa who were the only players on the team to win the Finnish championship before this season. The defense overall was very large in size and in spirit. JYP’s shot blocking was exceptional in the finals and frustrated Kärpät immensely. Naturally the forwards were part of this as well as JYP’s defended well with all five players.

In offense JYP had VIP as their brightest diamond. Antti Virtanen, Jarkko Immonen and Tuomas Pihlman compiled a fearsome amount of fire power, cunningness and physicality. Especially Virtanen and Immonen were crucial in JYP’s championship. Pihlman had many a good shooting chance on goal but his aim was missing. In the second line Jyväskylä’s own boys Jari Jääskeläinen and Juha-Pekka Hytönen along with Ossi Louhivaara rose to an important role in the finals. From the lower lines young Harri Pesonen shone bright in the post-season.

 Next year JYP looks to continue their success both in SM-Liiga and Champions Hockey League where they are automatically qualified as the Finnish champions. The team already has 24 contracts for next season including nearly all of their core players so they will be a team to watch out for in the future too.