Petri Matikainen tells about his health: almost ten pounds lost

With It was less than two weeks to start.

Petri Matikainen He piloted Oulu Kärppi twelve days and five matches.

The end result was contradictory. Matikainen managed to lift the Flyers out of the fall qualifiers, but the playoff spot was a dream. At the same time, the result was both a relief and a severe disappointment.

Matikainen will answer the phone in Oulu the following morning.

“This was a fast -paced wash,” he says.

Chairman Juha Junno He called Matikainen two weeks ago and asked him to work.

“Juha played at seven in the evening on Sunday, and the next morning I was on the train towards Oulu.”

Matikainen had not coached in Finland for seven years. His previous coaching work was in Switzerland.

Math now admits one thing openly.

“I was scared by hell. When I made the contract, I wondered what I had done. What comes from there? It scared me. I didn’t want information about anything. ”

The Flyers left for the season as one of the championships. Head coach Wille Under the team Kynti for 55 matches.

In the end, the fly was even threatened to fall into the fall qualifiers. Another opportunity was the playoffs.

Matikainen met a team who was insecure about himself.

“There was a lot of sense of inadequacy on the team. Especially for experienced Finnish players, ”he says.

“There was so much there that I was not enough. But for me, those boys were quite hell. ”

Matikainen had one message to the team’s Finns. He left them alone.

“I told them that just take care of yourself. You don’t have to guide this ship forward. Just take care of yourself. Next, I took foreign players separately and tried to make them understand the situation. ”

Math says that the spirit between him and the players was good. In the end, the Flyers’ fate was a loss to HIFK.

The young Italian goalkeeper Damian Clara opened the reel directly Iiro Pakarinenwho shot the reel to the empty goal in 59.32. IFK chased the winning goal without a goalkeeper.

The fly season was over 28 game seconds later.

Matikainen is sorry for Clara.

“I haven’t thought about it (Clara’s mistake). Unfortunately, there was a toddler. He also learns from that. He is a positive type. ”

Matikainen recalls how big the threats on the flies were.

“There was a threat that tomorrow (Monday) we would fly to Helsinki and go to Mikkeli to play playouts.”

One of the stakes of the last round of the regular season was which the team would have to play league qualifiers against Jukurs. In the end, the Pelicans of Lahti, who will have to fight for his league place, finally ranked 15.

”

When I made the contract, I wondered what I had done.

Math Didn’t want to know what had happened during the first 55 games in the regular season in Oulu.

“I went out as a stalemate for this. I didn’t call and ask what the situation was and what it was. I just thought I had to go to the fly now, ”he says.

“I experienced such a strong sense of responsibility when Juha Junno called. I had no choice but to leave. ”

Matikainen went over his feelings of fear.

He also made one big change to the team. He wanted to lighten the players’ load.

“I said I won’t come here before nine. You will not come here at 7.30am to exercise and watch videos. Here we will come and give it a heart for three hours. After that you are free. For three hours, the tempo is hard. ”

Matikainen’s pesti was exceptionally short. He had only five regular season matches time to turn the course. The Flyers won two of the matches.

“It is so hellish that we couldn’t get into the playoffs. Time ended. I made every energy crumb to rely on players and me, and I trust them. I loved those guys. ”

58-year-old Matikainen is now openly telling about his health. He has trouble on his back and hips.

The ailments are inherited from his career. Matikainen is a former league pack.

“I have to get myself in shape. I’ve lost ten pounds in about nine months. I haven’t been able to move. The food has not tasted. But now I’m in the victory side, ”he says.

However, in Kärp, he was able to be on the ice normally in practice.

“These are nerve problems. They are very nasty because they bother all the time. ”

After Matikainen returned to Finland, many people wonder what he is going to do next. His contract with the Flyers ended this season.

“I don’t know what the future will bring. Yes, I might have the strength to coach if an interesting place was available. ”