Jukka Rautakorpi

Jukka Rautakorpi
Rautakorpi in 2016
Born (1963-12-17) December 17, 1963 (age 61)
Kauhajoki, Finland
NationalityFinnish
OccupationIce hockey coach

Jukka Tapio Rautakorpi (born December 17, 1963, in Kauhajoki, Finland) is a Finnish ice hockey coach.[1]

Career

Shortly after his playing career ended, Rautakorpi began his coaching career starting out with the under-16 team of JYP Jyväskylä. After two years with the under-16 squad, he progressed to the under-18 team and then to the under-20 squad. In 1994–95 Rautakorpi moved up to become an assistant coach with JYP Jyväskylä on the SM-liiga squad.[2]

Rautakorpi moved on to Tappara for the 1995–96 season for his first stint as a head coach in the SM-liiga. He stayed for 2 seasons coaching 100 regular season games for a record of 42 wins, 43 losses and 15 ties, both seasons Tappara lost in the playoff quarterfinals.[3]

From 1997 to 1999, Rautakorpi coached various Finnish junior teams including the under-18 team at the 1998 IIHF European U18 Championship, winning silver, and the under-20 team in the 1999 IIHF World U20 Championship finishing 5th.

Tappara rehired Rautakorpi for the 1999–2000 season and he started his second run as Tappara head coach that would last 4 seasons this time. Rautakorpi had a much more successful tenure this time, amassing a record of 126 wins, 69 losses and 27 ties in 222 games. Under his tutelage, Tappara appeared in the 2000–01 and 2001–02 finals and won the Kanada-malja as playoff champion in 2002–03.[3][4][5]

Rautakorpi spent 2 seasons as the head coach of Finnish club Lukko, leading the club to a record of 52 wins, 36 losses, 14 ties, 4 overtime wins (OTW) and 6 overtime losses (OTL). However, in his first season with the club, they lost in the playoff quarterfinals, and in the second, they lost out to HPK for third place in the playoffs.[6][7]

Rautakorpi was back with Tappara again for the 2005–06 season, coaching the team to record of 28 wins, 15 losses, 5 OTW and 8 OTL, finishing 4th in the regular season but losing in the quarterfinals of the playoffs.[3][5]

Rautakorpi did not coach the 2006–07 season, but signed for 2007–08 with Leksands IF of the Swedish HockeyAllsvenskan which marks the only time he has coached outside of Finland.[5] Rautakorpi led Leksands to a 1st-place finish in the regular season which allowed them to play in the Kvalserien. The series could have led to a promotion to the Elitserien but they were unsuccessful, finishing 5th in the tournament, going back to HockeyAllsvenskan for the next season.[8]

Finnish club HPK signed Rautakorpi to be their head coach for the 2008–09 season after a disappointing 2007–08 season, in which they did not make the playoffs. Rautakorpi was able to lead HPK to the playoffs again in 2008–09 finishing 3rd in the regular season but losing in the quarterfinal round of the playoffs. Rautakorpi remained with HPK for the 2009–10 season as well, leading HPK to a 5th-place finish in the regular season and all the way to the finals in the playoffs where they were defeated by TPS.[9]

Rautakorpi was back with the Finnish under-18 team for the 2010–11 season. He coached them in the 2011 IIHF World U18 Championships finishing 5th.[10][11]

After not coaching the 2011–12 season, Rautakorpi was back with Tappara again for the 2012–13 season.[12] In his first season back with Tappara, he led the team to a 2nd-place finish in the regular season and all the way to the finals in the playoffs, but were defeated by Ässät for the championship.[13]

Career coaching statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Year Team League Regular season Post season
GP W L T OTW OTL Pts Finish Result
1995–96 Tappara SM-liiga 50 24 19 7 -- -- 55 4th Quarterfinal loss
1996–97 Tappara SM-liiga 50 18 24 8 -- -- 44 8th Quarterfinal loss
1999–2000 Tappara SM-liiga 54 31 15 8 -- -- 70 3rd Quarterfinal loss
2000–01 Tappara SM-liiga 56 32 19 5 -- -- 69 3rd Final loss
2001–02 Tappara SM-liiga 56 34 13 9 -- -- 79 1st Final loss
2002–03 Tappara SM-liiga 56 29 22 5 -- -- 65 5th Champion
2003–04 Lukko SM-liiga 56 24 18 14 -- -- 65 5th Quarterfinal loss
2004–05 Lukko SM-liiga 56 28 18 -- 4 6 98 5th Bronze game loss
2005–06 Tappara SM-liiga 56 28 15 -- 5 8 102 4th Quarterfinal loss
2007–08 Leksands IF HockeyAllsvenskan 45 33 6 2 3 1 108 1st Promoted to Kvalserien
2007–08 Leksands IF Kvalserien 10 4 5 0 1 0 14 5th back to HockeyAllsvenskan
2008–09 HPK SM-liiga 58 27 19 -- 6 6 99 3rd Quarterfinal loss
2009–10 HPK SM-liiga 58 26 22 -- 3 7 91 5th Final loss
2012–13 Tappara SM-liiga 60 29 17 -- 7 7 108 2nd Final loss
2013–14 Tappara Liiga 60 31 14 -- 8 7 116 2nd Final loss
2014–15 Amur Khabarovsk KHL 60 11 40 -- 0 6 45 14th (East) Did not qualify
Liiga (SM-liiga) totals 726 361 235 56 33 41 -- -- --

International

Medal record
Ice hockey
Representing  Finland
IIHF European Junior Championships
Silver medal – second place 1998 Sweden
Year Team Tournament GP W L T GF GA Finish
1998 Finland U18 IIHF European Junior Championships 5 3 1 1 17 12 Silver
1999 Finland U18 IIHF World U20 Championship 6 3 3 0 25 20 5th

References

  1. ^ Jukka Rautakorpi, Tappara
  2. ^ KAUSI 1994 - 1995, JYP Jyväskylä Archived 2014-01-07 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ a b c TAPPARAN VALMENTAJAT, Tappara
  4. ^ Liiga History, eliteprospects.com
  5. ^ a b c Juuka Rautakorpi, eliteprospects.com
  6. ^ Lukko, eliteprospects.com
  7. ^ Luuko 2004-05 roster,eurohockey.com
  8. ^ Kvalserien SHL Team Standings 2007 - 2008, eliteprospects.com
  9. ^ Liiga Team Standings 2009 - 2010, eliteprospects.com
  10. ^ TOURNAMENT PROGRESS, April 24, 2011, IIHF
  11. ^ TEAM ROSTER FIN-Finland, April 13, 2011, IIHF
  12. ^ JUKKA RAUTAKORPI PALAA TAPPARAN VALMENTAJAKSI, November 17, 2011, Tappara
  13. ^ Liiga Team Standings 2012 - 2013, eliteprospects.com