Hannu Jortikka became a true Khabarovsk legend in the early 2010s. Being practically on the other side of the world from my native Finland.
An experienced coach took over Amur in 2011. But the first contact with the Far Eastern club came… in Spain!
“I was in Spain when the phone rang. My agent Michael called. He said there is a team for me in Khabarovsk. I asked him: “Which one?” He replied that it was Khabarovsk “Amur”. I asked him: “Where is this anyway?” He said it was very far from here,” the coach said in an interview with Iltalehti.
Khabarovsk is located in the Russian Far East, approximately 6,500 kilometres from Finland. More than 600,000 people live in the city.
Memories of other Finns about the KHL and Russia:
“In some ways Russia was 20 years behind. That was attractive.” New Finnish stories about the KHL
“Michael said that the contract documents are ready, the money and everything else is there. I went with my wife Tuula to a regular Spanish communication center where there was a phone and a fax machine. Pages started flying out of the fax machine, there were about 20 of them: kling, kling, kling, kling.
At first there were all sorts of conditions and then financial issues. The salary was several times higher than in SM-Liiga (Finnish hockey league – Championship rating). I asked my wife what to do. Tuula said: “Sign now, quickly!” I said: “Okay, I’m leaving.”
The cost of the fax was about €5. I gave the guy €50. He looked at me like I was crazy and asked what was going on. I said, “I have a good contract now, I have money,” Hannu laughs, adding: “That’s how it all started and I haven’t regretted it for a single day. I liked being there, I can assure you of that.”
“I became the first foreigner to receive the title of “Person of the Year” there.”
Jortikka appreciated “Amur” because it gave her everything she needed.
“There, the coach was a coach: there were drivers, translators and they even gave me an apartment. If you needed something, the translator would go to the boss and everything would be arranged. No problem,” says the specialist.
Hannu Jortikka
Photo: photo.khl.ru
Under Yortikka’s leadership, the Khabarovsk team had a great start to the KHL season. In October, the team won 10 out of 12 matches and also achieved an eight-game winning streak. Other clubs in the league also began to show interest in the coach.
“We had a good winning streak in October. Just before Christmas, my agent called me and said: ‘There are quite a few teams here now that you can choose from. Whether you go to these big clubs, to Moscow or somewhere else, they want to see you,’” says the coach about plans for the second season in the KHL.
However, Yortikka decided to stay in Khabarovsk, where he secretly signed an even more lucrative contract.
“Putin had a special director for the Far East named Isaev, who ran the entire hockey operation behind the scenes. He asked me if I liked it here and if I would like to stay here. I said, ‘Yes, I feel good here,’” the coach says.
The agent realised that Jortikka was in a strong negotiating position and demanded a significant pay rise for the coach.
The former KHL star also remembers Russia with warmth:
“I earned much more in the KHL than anywhere else in Europe.” New Finnish stories about Russia
“At training the next morning, our boss came up to me and told me to come sign a contract. I walked into the office, looked at this piece of paper, and thought, ‘Hell no!’”
In the contract that the agent asked for, our boss had to put his name because that was what the big boss ordered. So I stayed there for a second year,” the specialist recalls.
The desire to renew Jortikka’s contract was not a surprise. Finn led Amur to the playoffs in his first season. He was extremely popular in the city. The Turku native was recognized as “Man of the Year” in Khabarovsk when, under his leadership, the small club reached the playoffs for the first time in history.
“It wasn’t Man of the Year, but Soldier of the Year. I received about 70% of the votes and, of course, I became the first foreigner to receive this award. In Russia, cities always choose the Soldier of the Year. This has been going on since wartime, since World War II,” Jortikka explains in detail.
“I called Mogilny and two days later I had the money in my account.”
After two seasons at Amur, the next destination was Admiral Vladivostok, a KHL club located even further east.
“Michael calls back and says that a new team and a new arena will appear soon. Then I get calls from Vyacheslav Fetisov and Alexander Mogilny, both former great players.
“I told him that the agent would negotiate and that if we could come to an agreement similar to the one I had in my first year at Amur, then that would be fine for me. And then we had to travel another 1,000 kilometres,” the coach said.
Hannu Jortikka
Photo: photo.khl.ru
He, like the entire team, had to face great difficulties. In fact, the newly created “Admiral” was not yet ready for the season.
“The arena wasn’t ready yet. We spent the entire preseason in Europe and the first eight games of the KHL season away from home.
“This was also an interesting experience, but I still have fond memories of it. I had a lot of time to see the world,” Jortikka recalls.
But the Finn did not manage to stay long in Vladivostok. The troubled Admiral had a season-ending start that was expected to be unsuccessful, managing only 13 wins in 31 games, three of which were outside of regular time. However, the Far Eastern team managed to beat CSKA in the first home game in history by 4-2.
On 1 December, Jortikka left his position as head coach.
“It all ended with my dismissal, for which I was to a certain extent responsible: my wife suddenly fell ill.
The general manager came and said, “Yes, you can leave, but you don’t get paid.” I said I didn’t agree with this. I had to fight a little bit there.
American Tales from Russia:
“This place is a dump.” Revelations from a former tough guy about gambling and life in Russia
Then Mogilny came (he was the club’s president at the time – note from the Championship) and we negotiated for a couple of days. Then he said: “Okay, four months’ salary will be on your account on the second day of May.”
“Well, that money never arrived. I called Mogilny and on May 4th the money was in my account. However, we were talking about a lot of money, I had to be in Spain at that time and pay taxes there,” says the coach.
“The KHL at that time was a men’s league”
The Finnish specialist has fond memories of Russia.
“I didn’t experience any culture shock in Russia. I had been there so many times that I knew what to expect,” says Jortikka.
He was also lucky with the hockey players: “It was easy to train Russian players. They were used to discipline and order. If there was no discipline and order, they would not be part of the team and would be immediately taken advantage of.”
Hockey players in Russia have had difficult problems:
“In Russia, there is always fear of the owner.” Finnish hockey player: on life and playing in our country
The coach points out that at that time, very good hockey was played in the KHL.
“Back then, hockey in the KHL was really tough. All the teams we played had the best European players. The games were good and interesting. It was a men’s league,” Jortikka recalls.
Finn also believes that ordinary people in Russia are ordinary people. He calls for not equating ordinary citizens with those who make some decisions.
“Now everyone is spitting on Russia and pointing to a brutal conflict. But ordinary people are ordinary people,” the expert explains.
Despite many popular opinions in our country about Finland and the rest of the world in general, Jortikka shows in her own words that it seems that the rest of the world is actually kind to Russia and ordinary people here.
Related materials
“It doesn’t seem like anything is missing.” Is the hockey world ready to get Russia back?
So, perhaps, we should not forget that we are people. And that ordinary people live outside Russia too. No matter what you try to call them.
