“I want to be as tough as him.”

Jönköping. Peter “Foppa” Forsberg slammed the HV71 at Sportbladet’s Hockeymorning.

The legend didn’t think the team was mean and tough enough.

– When Foppa speaks, you listen, applaud him that he is right, says coach Thomas Montaigne.

HV71 had a difficult start to the season with new coach Thomas Montaigne.

Peter “Foppa” Forsberg saw several appearances for Jönköping during the season.

The answer is that he is largely right. However, we received the highest number of dismissals and were previously at the top in terms of tackles. We want to be difficult in confrontation and we are working on that. So far we have not been strict enough. We want to be as strong as “Foppa” when he plays. We’re not a strong Foppa yet, but we want to be a strong Foppa. “I think he saw us mostly against Modou, and then we were really bad,” says Thomas Montaigne.

“Be the angriest”

HV71 returned home from the Norland Tour over the past week.

In five days there were no points and 4-14 in goal difference against Modo, Luleå and Skellefteu.

Now it’s a 4-1 win over Vaxio in the Smalllands derby on Thursday evening.

In the booth, Thomas Montaigne looked happier than he had recently, laughing and smiling widely during the match.

-I get angry when we play poorly and lose, but I’ve become very good at not getting too high or too low in this job. I don’t want to be there when things are going good and be there when things are going bad. I want to maintain an even level. “During the six seasons with the Junior Crowns, there have been a lot of ups and downs as well, I may not be confident but I have confidence in what I am doing, what I can do and what I want to convey,” says Thomas Montaigne.

At the same time, he admits that there were very difficult feelings regarding the lost matches.

– We hope we took it the right way. We were so bad against Modo and Lulia, and then we were so bad that I was so angry. We have to realize that we are a team that will not get anything for free. Against Skellefteå we were a little better, they had 40 minutes and we had 20 minutes. Isak Brannstrom hit a post shot from 2-2. “I felt very angry,” says Thomas Montaigne.

“Incredible pressure in the stands”

HV71 SHL started losing leads to Linköping and Färjestad to losses at home.

In the third match in a row, victory was finally achieved in Smålands’ meeting with Oscarshamn.

Although they still have no points away from home, they have six points and a goal difference of 10-3 in their last two home games.

– In the first week, we played well, but we only got four points out of nine. There we will have two more points against Linköping and maybe one point against Farestad. We have incredible pressure in the stands here at home and it’s fun to play. Now we will take this energy with us until it is full in Leksand on Saturday, says Thomas Montaigne.

In the table, HV71 ranks second to last with seven points, while Oscarshamn has two points.

-We have players who can make a difference and it is important that they do that, but the rest need to do hard work and scrub all the time until we become a stable team. I know how we want to play and we are working towards it. “This part feels good regardless of whether we lose or win, because I know what I want and that is experience,” says Thomas Montaigne.

“Light me up”

It has been eleven seasons since his only season as head coach in the Premier League, when he was sacked by Timra.

In this case at HV71, there was a lot of light and pressure on the 45-year-old.

– I missed this role and I understand that there will be a lot of focus on me. You’d rather shine the spotlight on me than go after underperforming players. It works for me. Of course there should be noise when we lose, but it’s just external noise. I feel more internally that we have a journey to take. With club director Johan Lindbom and sporting director Kent “Nobin” Norberg, it’s realistic and at a good level, says Thomas Montaigne.

How did you feel and sleep when the effort and scoring of points was not at its best?

-I’ve been to a lot of matches over the years so I know that. So it feels good. That’s what I want to convey to the players as well, that regardless of the performance, you have to do the day-to-day job all the time and make sure we move forward. We can’t go to Leksand now and think we’re kings.

“It will be further than that”

How do you see your performance as head coach at HV71 so far?

– Maybe I thought we would be more advanced than we are now. There were very few injuries in the pre-season. I thought we were going to take it a step further, especially in the puck game. We have more skill than we have shown, but we must be content with simplicity and accelerate slowly.

For six seasons, Thomas Montaigne was captain of the national team in the junior championship.

He has also been an assistant coach at Djurgården and Linköping.

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