You have to get used to the noise first. That soft, steady crunch on the streets. But it’s like this: In Helsinki, there are still many drivers on spikes. Winter has only just gone. In Central Park, many sticky piles of snow have survived the first cautious rays of the sun. The delicate green of the trees appears shy. Walkers wear hats and scarves.
Back to the roots
Near Central Park, at the foot of the 1952 Olympic Stadium is the Helsingin Jäähalliwho during the World Cup as Helsinki Ice Hall referred to as. Normally the traditional Helsingfors plays here IFK, in which the German national coach Toni Söderholm knows his sporting roots. He wore the jersey of the HIFK for ten years. “Of course it’s special. There’s no need to talk about it.”says Toni Söderholm, “but I also want to enjoy it.”
In 2011 Söderholm became Finnish champion in this hall. Along with a Finnish ice hockey folk hero: attacker Ville Peltonen. Söderholm’s coach at the time was Kari Jalonen, who can be seen again at the World Cup, as Jalonen has been the new national coach of the Czech Republic since March. However, a prerequisite for this special meeting behind the gang would be that the German team survives the main round and then goes into the knockout-Rounds to possibly meet the Czechs.
Goodbye to Canada
Getting there is complicated, but certainly not impossible. He’s only allowed one thing DEB– Selection not pass: a similar false start as at the Olympics, when the opening opponent was also Canada and it became clear after ten minutes – at this level the German team was overwhelmed, for whatever reason. In the end it was 1:5, it felt like a double-digit defeat.
Be careful after belly landing
So the big question ahead of this tournament is: Were the Beijing Olympics just a blip? Toni Söderholm is purified, even if he would not say so himself. “I won’t name any goals. This leads to nothing. The first goal is the first point in the first game”, explains the national coach and the undertone is clear: Just don’t ask questions. A few months ago in Beijing, Söderholm and his team were still talking about the “Vision Gold Medal” and fell terribly on their noses – spikes wouldn’t have helped either.
In Helsinki, Söderholm is now trying to compete with a significantly changed and younger team WM– to build on the success of Riga last year. In Latvia, an intoxicating journey only ended in the semifinals. Cautious optimism is indeed warranted. There are some promising players in the German World Cup squad. Defenseman Moritz Seider, for example, who had a fantastic debut season in Detroit NHL graduated and could be voted the best rookie in the best league in the world.