Swedish Jr Hockey Podcast Ep. 16: Ted Suihkonen - Finish-American Junior Champion turned Swede and one of the leading skills coaches in Europe

Ted Suikhonen grew up in Duluth, MN, USA and won a national high school championship and the following year the Kelly Cup with USHL's Lincoln Stars in their inaugural season.  He moved on to the D1 program at University of Alaska – Anchorage and figured the trajectory would follow.  After 2.5 years in Alaska, against the advice of his parents, he left to go pro in Europe once the phone did not ring at the pro level in the US.  As a young hockey player at a variety of countries such as Netherlands, Italy, Sweden.  A second major knee injury finally ended his playing career and moved back to the US to get into coaching at the High School level in Alaska. Ted has since spent the last 18 years in a variety of coaching positions in the US, Norway, Sweden.  Prior to this year, Ted worked as Direct or of Player Development for the M20 in the Russian Junior League for HC Lokomotiv and this year moved in a similar position with EVZ Zug in the Swiss League.

In this episode we not only talk about his journey and his experience but also how his player career has shaped and molded him as a coach.  How the first few years were mainly about pressing the throttle with practices and games but in later years, after finishing his degree and later getting into the neuroscience of learning has put him on the map as one of the premier skills and player development coaches in Europe.

You can find details and examples of his beliefs, techniques and videos by following him on Twitter @tedsuihkonen77 and on IG @suihkonen.77.   Here you can not only find great video content but also the philosophy behind WHAT, HOW and most importantly the WHY specific things are done.

We hope you enjoy this episode of the Swedish Junior Hockey Podcast.  If you like what you hear, please share it with your friends and subscribe as a regular listener on your choice of podcast player.

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