Jukka Jalonen is a Finnish

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 professional ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 coach

Coach (sport)

In sports, a coach is an individual involved in the direction, instruction and training of the operations of a sports team or of individual sportspeople.-Staff:...

 and former player. He is the current head coach of Finnish national men's ice hockey team

Finnish national men's ice hockey team

The Finnish men's national ice hockey team, or Leijonat / Lejonen , as it is called in Finland, is governed by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association...

.

Jalonen has coached several Finnish ice hockey teams in the SM-Liiga

SM-liiga

The SM-liiga is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. As of March 2008, it is ranked by the IIHF as the second strongest league in Europe. It was created in 1975 to replace the SM-sarja, which was fundamentally an amateur league. The SM-liiga is not directly overseen by the Finnish Ice...

: Ilves

Ilves

Ilves is a Finnish sports club nowadays mostly known for their youth work. The ice hockey team plays in the SM-liiga at the Tampereen jäähalli in Hakametsä...

 (1992–1995), Lukko

Lukko

Lukko is an ice hockey team in the SM-liiga, formed 1936. The full name of the club is Rauman Lukko. They play in Rauma, Finland at the Äijänsuo Arena. They have won the national championship once, in 1963...

 (1996–1997), and HPK

HPK

HPK is an ice hockey team in the SM-liiga. They play in Hämeenlinna, Finland at the Hämeenlinnan jäähalli. HPK was established in 1929. The full name of the club is HPK-Edustusjääkiekko Ry and the team is sometimes promoted as the "Hockey Playing Knights", with the logo representing a knight...

 (2001–2007), and also Vaasan Sport

Sport (Vaasa)

Sport, known by its full name as Hockey Team Vaasan Sport OY, is a Finnish ice hockey team based at Vaasa Arena in Vaasa. The team was established in 1939 as IF Sport .- History :Vaasan Sport was founded in 1939...

 in Mestis

Mestis

Mestis, , is the second-highest ice hockey league in Finland.The league was established in 2000 to replace the first division. Since 2000, Mestis has been the highest hockey league in Finland that can be reached with playing merits only; the SM-liiga was closed in 2000...

 (known as I-divisioona at that time). He also coached the Newcastle RiverKings and Newcastle Jesters

Newcastle Jesters

The Newcastle Jesters were an ice hockey franchise based in Newcastle Upon Tyne, England. The team were members of the Ice Hockey Superleague and played their home games at the Telewest Arena .-Single Season of Jesters :...

 in the British Ice Hockey Superleague during seasons 1999/2000 and 2000/2001.

During his coaching career he has won the Finnish Championship once, in 2006, with HPK

HPK

HPK is an ice hockey team in the SM-liiga. They play in Hämeenlinna, Finland at the Hämeenlinnan jäähalli. HPK was established in 1929. The full name of the club is HPK-Edustusjääkiekko Ry and the team is sometimes promoted as the "Hockey Playing Knights", with the logo representing a knight...

. He has won also four bronze medals; 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2007. All of them were with HPK.

In his playing career, he played in two SM-liiga games for JyP HT in the 1985-86 season. He also played for JYP, Jääahmat and Lohi in lower divisions.