Toni Söderholm has a special experience at the World Championships

Germany plays its first block in the Helsinki Ice Rink, the legendary Nordis, which was Toni Söderholm44, home hall for ten seasons.

He represented HIFK throughout his league career, served as the team captain for three seasons and won the 2011 Finnish Championship.

– Pretty special, of course. I look forward to getting to the familiar hall, he says.

In the international matches in preparation for the competition, Germany has shared the wins Kari Jalosen against the Czech Republic 1–1 and defeated Switzerland but then lost three times to the pipeline, first to Switzerland 1–6 and then to Slovakia 1–3 and 2–3.

– They don’t matter, Söderholm acknowledges the losses from training games.

– Of course you want to win, but last year we lost the first five games before winning the sixth.

Germany was fourth in the competition. The ranking was the best in the country on World Cup ice in 11 years.

Söderholm points out that the lineup is still alive.

– We’ve had a pretty young team. The series has been played so late that we haven’t gotten the team together yet.

The DEL finals between Eisbären Berlin and Red Bull Munich, which took the championship, did not end until Wednesday.

In the NHL, Germany gets three significant reinforcements when the Ottawa striker Tim StützleA defender of Detroit Moritz Seider and Seattle goalkeeper Philipp Grubauer related to the team.

Seider, who scored a tough 50 points for the defender in the regular season, is a strong candidate for the Newcomer of the Year Calder Award.

The trio will be involved as early as Sunday, when Germany will face Austria in their World Cup general.

– 6-7 of the finalists will then come straight to the plane.

Disc management

Germany has not yet locked in its target.

– We focus on the look and feel of the way we play first. Every game needs to be improved, Söderholm lines up and describes his team playing an aggressive pressure game.

– The German game is always based on good defense. We’ve also tried a little to reel in the game, so we’d be a little more piled up when we play with the reel. When I am a Finn, there are some influences from the puck doctrine that I have received myself, Söderholm says.

– I am confident that we will be able to win games and struggle to advance. Of course, getting into the top hand first is a goal of some sort.

Career on the rise

Söderholm, 44, who won the World Championship silver in Lions in 2007, ended his playing career in the ranks of EHC Munich for the 2016 German championship.

– I had thought that I would have played for another year, but they offered the opportunity to move on to the coaching side. I then said that maybe enough has been played here, he recalls the surprisingly open opportunity to move on to a coaching career.

An even more surprising opportunity came at the turn of 2018–2019.

Söderholm had only worked in various coaching positions for two and a half seasons, and the most notable was the head coach washed in the DEL2 league when the German Hockey Association offered him the position of head coach of the A national team.

– I had been in contact with the association for a few years in my twenties, Söderholm repeats his job as an assistant coach for the U20 national team.

– I knew those people, but I didn’t expect it in any way, he says of the offer.

– They called and asked if you could think of such a thing. An agreement was reached fairly quickly.

Söderholm has to speculate as to why the bosses of the association ended up with him when they chose a successor to the assistant coach of the Los Angeles Kings. Marco Sturmille.

– Maybe the word had rushed from the players that it was worth a look. I don’t know, hard to say, he apricots.

Finnish pourer

Söderholm started as the Commander-in-Chief of Germany in January 2019.

The very first value races showed that the German federation had pulled the right string. The German road at the World Championships in the spring was cut in the semi-finals with a loss to the Czech Republic, but the first series was good and the team defeated Finland, among other places. The numbers ranged from 4 to 2.

How did Finland feel about winning?

– I was more happy that we played a good game. Of course, it was a great victory, but it was nothing super special, Söderholm replies.

– I really didn’t experience the joy of injury. Jukka did it quite strongly and still does, he refers to the head coach of Finland To Jukka Jalosenunder whose leadership the Lions marched to the championship.

Canadian Kata

The 2020 World Cup had to be canceled due to the pandemic, but last spring Germany continued its strong performances. In the first series, it washed Canada, among others, which also eventually became the champion.

– It was a terrible fighting game from our guys, Söderholm wins 3-1.

– The players blocked 30 shots and Veskari played the top game. There was a lot of underemployment and it was torn and grated. On behalf of the motherland, the kundas fought in it.

In the semi-finals, Germany defeated Switzerland with a severe, and in the semi-finals, Finland stood up. The situation was again interesting when there were two Finns in the German coaching team, Söderholm and an assistant coach. Ville Peltonen.

– It was a terrible disappointment that we lost that game, Söderholm says.

The bitterness was highlighted by the fact that Germany was on top of the game and won shots 28-17. However, Söderholm emphasizes that the result must be respected. It was Finland’s 2–1 victory.

– We had good scoring places, and the guys were really committed. Yes, we played a good game, just like Finland. It could have happened anyway.

Söderholm sees that the Game Plan he has drawn up with the assistant coaches has worked. Game management said the same thing.

So how do you play against Finland?

– You have to be really tough and patient when they drum their own game. You have to stay inside the game and accept that they hold the puck and put it in certain places. The front of the paint must be hard.

The next day in the bronze match, the German jacket was empty and the USA took the medals to a tennis score of 6-1.

– That game got in my arms, Söderholm regrets.

– Departure from the hall was late, and we didn’t get disappointed after the semi-final.

Olympic disappointment

At the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, Germany achieved a surprise silver, but Beijing last February was disappointing. Germany was ranked 10th.

– If everything goes into the tube, you could be in the top four. If all goes well, then you’re tenth, Söderholm whips.

– High expectations, poor preparation, he says and takes the matter to its own peak.

– I can look in the mirror myself. All the protocols and bureaucracy, were too German. I had to do all the tests for just a minute.

– There was stuff on the site that shouldn’t have been. All of these little things have a big impact on what emotional state a player is in. Of course, it wasn’t the place where you want to learn these, but somewhere they have to learn, he says, self-critical.

Germany, wise from damage, can be dangerous in the Finnish Games.