Erkka Westerlund (born 30 March 1957, in

Pernå Pernå (, Sweden ; ) is a former municipality of Finland. Pernå is located in the province of Southern Finland and was part of the Eastern Uusimaa region. The municipality had a population of 3,961 (31 December 2009) and covered an area of of ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

) was the head coach of the

Finnish national men's ice hockey team The Finnish men's national ice hockey team, nicknamed ''Leijonat / Lejonen'' ("The Lions" in Finnish and Swedish), is governed by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association. Finland is one of the most successful national ice hockey teams in the world an ...

. He was appointed head coach on November 1, 2004, and his contract ended in May 2007, after winning silver in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

's World Championship tournament. He followed

Raimo Summanen Raimo Olavi Summanen (born March 2, 1962) is a former professional ice hockey forward and the current head coach of HIFK of the Finnish Elite League. He is also a former coach of the Finnish national team. He was selected by the Edmont ...

as head coach of the national team.

Career

Westerlund has coached several Finnish ice hockey teams in the

SM-Liiga The Liiga, colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. The league comprises 16 teams from all around Finland with relegation and promotion between the Mest ...

: JYP (1985–1988),

Lukko Rauman Lukko (Finnish for "lock") is a Finnish sports club based in Rauma, Finland, Rauma, Finland, best known for its men's professional ice hockey team. The club was founded as Rauma Woodin Lukko in 1936. The representative team currently pla ...

(1989–1991),

HIFK HIFK, the Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna, Helsingfors (IFK, Helsingfors) rf (officially abbreviated IFK Helsingfors, colloquially often Helsingfors IFK or Helsingin IFK) is a multi-sport association based in Helsinki, Finland. Formed in 1897 on ...

(1997–1999) and

Jokerit Helsingin Jokerit (, English: Joker (playing card), Jokers or Jesters of Helsinki) is a professional ice hockey team based in Helsinki, Finland, which competes in Mestis. Jokerit plays its home games at the Helsinki Ice Hall and Helsinki Halli in ...

(1999–2001). During his coaching career Westerlund has won the Finnish Championship once: 1998, with HIFK and finished twice in the second place, in 1999 and 2000. Internationally Westerlund coached Finland in four tournaments, receiving medals in three of them. He has won one Olympic Silver medal (2006) in

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

, one World Championship Silver (2007) and one World Championship Bronze (2006). As a player, Westerlund was a forward. He played in the 1978/1979 season for

Jukurit Mikkelin Jukurit is a professional ice hockey team in Liiga, the top tier Finnish ice hockey league. They play in Mikkeli, Finland, at the Kalevankankaan jäähalli (also known as Let's Go Areena for sponsorship reasons). The team has won seven ...

, in 34 games he scored 7 goals and gave 10 assists. In the 1980/1981 season he played for JYP. Here he played 23 games, scoring 3 goals and 1 assist. Westerlund was a candidate in the 2023 election for

Finnish Ice Hockey Association The Finnish Ice Hockey Association (, ) is the sport governing body, governing body of ice hockey in Finland. Since the late 1980s, Finland has enjoyed a period of success on the international stage and, , the Finland men's national ice hockey t ...

chairman but lost to Heikki Hietanen 26-6. He told reporters afterwards that he felt he lost the election because he "represented change" and that the committee was not ready for a cultural upheaval within the organisation. His son Tomas coached

Kiekko-Espoo Kiekko-Espoo is a Finnish professional ice hockey club founded in 2018 as a continuation of the Kiekko-Espoo team originally founded in 1984. Kiekko-Espoo men's team plays in the Liiga, where they were promoted for the 2024–25 Liiga season, 20 ...

in the 2022-23 season.

References

External links

* JYP Jyväskylä players Mikkelin Jukurit players Living people Finnish ice hockey players 1957 births Finland men's national ice hockey team coaches Ice hockey coaches at the 2014 Winter Olympics People from Pernå Ice hockey people from Uusimaa Olympic bronze medalists for Finland Olympic medalists in ice hockey Medalists at the 2014 Winter Olympics {{Finland-icehockey-bio-stub