Head coach Tomi Lämsä thinks it is important for ice hockey clubs to offer different options for practicing the sport. Player development is not about seeking quick profits, Lämsä reminds.
In many clubs, the junior activities and quality of Lämsä are good, but you can’t be satisfied with that and just rest. In Finland, you have to be on the cutting edge of game analysis and community spirit. By community, Lämsä means close cooperation between club and national team circles.
In Lämsä’s opinion, information flows well with the club and national team coaches, but information about the requirements of the international game must be gathered all the time and it must travel quickly in the clubs and the national team.
Tomi Lämsä from Lahti has experience coaching Pelicans’ junior and representative teams. A few years before the current team, he coached in the KHL league in Russia.
Junior production for the league team requires long-term work
According to Lämsä, player development is not about seeking quick wins. The journey from junior to domestic league player is long.
– It is important to get the most talented children and their families involved in hockey right from the start. The rise of a junior and getting a playing spot on a league team in his hometown is not the result of a year or two. The Pelicans have succeeded in this long-term work excellently.
Lämsä emphasizes that clubs must offer a wide range of different options to practice the sport and develop in it.
For example, the situation in Hämeenlinna is currently different than in Lahti, according to Lämsä.
– It is important to recognize what is good and what kind of offer you can make. In Hämeenlinna, there is perhaps an intermediate space now, where we can see and listen to how to start developing operations.
The 19-year-old from Lahti has developed into a top defender
– Vilén is an excellent all-round defender. He has taken a big step forward this season.
Vilén signed a three-year rookie contract with the NHL club New Jersey Devils last spring. He is playing on loan for the current season in his parent club Pelicans.
According to the Pelicans pilot, the cooperation with national team coach Lämsä is working.
– Lämsä has told what he expects from Vilén in the youth national team. At the same time, he trusts that the player will develop in Lahti as an individual and as a member of the team, says Tommi Niemelä.
Young Lions coach Lämsä still praises the attitude of the young players.
– It’s great to see how these young people take responsibility for their own development. Their professionalism has increased. The desire to wear the Leijona shirt is hard and an honor. They are involved with a big heart.