Erkka Westerlund

Erkka Westerlund
Date of birth	March 30, 1957
place of birth	Pernaja , Finland
position	striker
Career stations
1973-1974	Lukko Rauma
1978-1979	Jukurit Mikkeli
1980-1981	Jyp HT

Erkka Westerlund
Coaching stations
1981-1989	Jyp HT
1988-1989	U20 national team Finland
1989-1991	Lukko Rauma
1996-1997	U18 national team Finland
1997-1999	HIFK Helsinki
1999-2001	Jokerit Helsinki
2001-2003	U20 national team Finland
2003-2007	National team Finland
2010–2012	Jokerit Helsinki
2013-2014	National team Finland
2014-2016	Jokerit Helsinki
2017-2018	Salawat Yulayev Ufa

Erkka Westerlund (born March 30, 1957 in Pernaja ) is a former Finnish ice hockey player and coach who played for Jukurit Mikkeli and Jyp HT in I divisioona from 1978 to 1981 . Most recently he was the head coach of Salawat Yulayev Ufa .

Career

Erkka Westerlund, who was active in the SM-sarja of the B-junior division for Lukko Rauma in 1973/74 , only played two seasons in professional ice hockey. In the 1978/79 and 1980/81 seasons he was on the ice for one year with Jukurit Mikkeli and Jyp HT in the second-class I divisioona .

As a coach, Westerlund initially took over his former club JYP HT, for which he was already on the ice as a player. He trained this from 1985 to 1987, before he was the main person in charge of Lukko Rauma from the SM-liiga in the 1989/90 season , for which he had played in the youth division himself. There followed a longer break in which Westerlund did not look after a professional club, before he was given the opportunity to train HIFK Helsinki in 1997 . With his new team he became Finnish champion in his first year and received the Kalevi-Numminen-Trophy as the best coach of the SM-liiga.

In the following season Westerlund led his team again in the final of the SM-liiga, where they were defeated by TPS Turku . The Finn then decided to move to league rivals Jokerit Helsinki , with whom he again lost to TPS Turku in the final in the following season. Although Westerlund managed to lead his team to first place after the main round in the 2000/01 season , the early elimination in the playoff quarter-finals against the eighth-placed team Kärpät Oulu meant that he was replaced by Raimo Summanen .

After a four-year break, Westerlund took over the coaching position of the Finnish national team in 2005 , which he led to winning the silver medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin , as well as a bronze medal at the 2006 World Cup and a silver medal at the 2007 World Cup . After the end of his two-year contract Wersterlund was replaced by the Canadian Doug Shedden .

Between 2010 and 2012 he was again in charge of Jokerit Helsinki as head coach. In May 2013 Westerlund was again the Finnish national coach and looked after the national team until early summer 2014. He then returned to Jokerit Helsinki.

In the 2017/18 season he was the head coach of Salawat Yulayev Ufa , but could not meet the sporting expectations there and left the club in April 2018 at his own request.

Achievements and Awards

• 1998 Kalevi Numminen Trophy
• 1998 Finnish champion with HIFK Helsinki
• 1999 Finnish runner-up with Helsinki IFK
• 2000 Finnish runner-up with Jokerit Helsinki

International

• 2006 silver medal at the Olympic Winter Games ( as head coach )
• 2006 bronze medal at the world championship ( as head coach )
• 2007 silver medal at the World Championships ( as head coach )
• 2014 bronze medal at the Olympic Winter Games ( as head coach )
• 2014 silver medal at the World Championship ( as head coach )

I divisioona statistics

	Seasons	Games	Gates	Assists	Points	Penalty minutes
Main round	2	57	10	11	21st	24
Playoffs	-	-	-	-	-	-

Web links

• Erkka Westerlund at eliteprospects.com (English)