The Colorado Avalanche have named Jussi Ahokas as head coach of their American Hockey League affiliate, the Colorado Eagles. Ahokas, 45, arrives after leading the Kitchener Rangers to a Memorial Cup title.
The Colorado Avalanche announced the hiring of Jussi Ahokas to lead the Colorado Eagles. He spent the previous three seasons with the Ontario Hockey League’s Kitchener Rangers, where he guided the team to the 2025-26 Memorial Cup championship. Ahokas also earned OHL Coach of the Year honors for the 2024-25 season.
Before joining North American hockey, Ahokas built a 20-year coaching career in Finland. He served 15 seasons with Finnish junior teams, including seven years as a national team head coach across U-16 to U-20 levels. During that time he helped Finland win gold medals at the 2019 IIHF World Junior Championship and the 2016 IIHF World U-18 Championship.
Ahokas also coached four seasons in Finland’s top professional league. He led KooKoo from 2019 to 2021 and TPS from 2021 to 2023, receiving league Coach of the Year recognition in 2019-20.