Jarkko Immonen has almost done it all in ice hockey. The 35-year-old has gold medals from the U18 World Championships, World Champions, KHL, and Liiga. He has a silver from the Worlds too, and bronzes from the U20 Worlds and Olympics in both 2010 and 2014.
This summer, after eight years playing outside Finland, he moved back to Jyväskylä.
“JYP is kind of my home team. I have great memories from here when I played here last time,” said the forward, who was born some 170km east in Rantasalmi. “It was my plan all the time that I will be back here someday.”
Immonen spent two seasons with EV Zug, so playing in the CHL wasn’t a new thing after moving teams – however, getting to the Semi-Finals is something he’s not experienced before. “It has been a great experience playing these games. Especially playing against Zug at the start of the season was something special!” he told us.
"I just enjoy playing hockey ... and of course, you never get bored of winning!"Jarkko Immonen
Before heading to Switzerland, Immonen played in the KHL for six seasons where he split his time in Kazan (four years) and Nizhny Novgorod (two years). Outside his comfort zone and familiar surroundings, how does that change someone as a person?
“You just have to be ready and prepared for changes,” admitted Immonen, who also played 20 games in the NHL for the New York Rangers. “In Russia especially, things change all the time, so you just have to be ready for everything and focus.”
Focussing on the task at hand will be key for JYP in Třinec, where the team starts the game with a 4-2 aggregate lead.
“It doesn't change anything,” he confirmed. “We go there like the game is 0-0 and we are going to try to win that game.”
When you’ve already won the World, Finnish and KHL Championships, you might forgive a player for taking it a bit easier in the latter stages of their career. But not Immonen. He’s his team's third top scorer in the Liiga (8+27) and CHL (2+5). Where does the motivation still come from?
“I just enjoy playing hockey. We have a great group of guys here and it's fun to go to the rink every morning,” he says happily, before concluding: “And of course, you never get bored of winning!”