abstract
| - Hannu Jortikka (born December 16, 1956) is former Finnish ice hockey player and current coach. Jortikka spent most of his playing career in TPS Turku. He won part of championship-winning TPS team in 1976. He had to retire in 1983 due to injury. Jortikka coached Finnish U20 to world championship in 1987, the tournament which is famous for Punch-up in Piestany. He then took a job of assistant coach of the national team, which took Finland's first medal in men's level by finishing second in 1988 Winter Olympics. Jortikka is best known for his success in club teams. In 1988 he took over as head coach of TPS, leading them to three successive championships. After being eliminated in quarter-finals in 1992, Jortikka was sacked and he moved to HPK Hämeenlinna. HPK went to the finals, but Jortikka was sacked before semi-finals after it was revealed that he had signed for Swiss team SC Bern for the following season. He has also coached Malmö IF for two non-successive seasons. In December 1995 he joined JYP Jyväskylä as mid-season replacement. JYP was placed last at that point, heading for relegation games. Under Jortikka's short stint, team escaped and ended the season in 11th out of 12 teams. His next job was to coach Finnish U20 national team again, but this time Finland failed to get a medal. In 1998 he returned to TPS, and led them to another triple, winning titles in 1999, 2000 and 2001. After that he took two-season sabbatical from coaching. He joined Jokerit Helsinki in 2003 and coached them for two seasons. First season was disappointment with Jokerit being eliminated in quarter-finals but in 2004-05 Jokerit advanced to finals. In the regular season their goaltender Tim Thomas had a record of 15 shutouts. Jortikka made another return to TPS for next season, but for next two seasons TPS was eliminated in first playoff round, therefore failing to reach quarter-finals. Jortikka was sacked. For 2009-10 season he started as head coach of Finnish U20 team. In late November he took over as head coach of Jokerit Helsinki. Jortikka was elected to Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame in 2006 as a coach.
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