National ice hockey coach Söderholm: "World Cup team forms the framework for Beijing"

Created: 01/04/2022, 07:52 AM

From: Günter Klein

National coach Toni Söderholm relies on familiar players at the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.

© Daniel Karmann / dpa

In an interview with our newspaper, national ice hockey coach Toni Söderholm speaks about the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, the DHB squad and the EHC Munich.

Munich - Germany's national ice hockey coach Toni Söderholm (43) spent the turn of the year in his home country of Finland.

And although “my mom is visiting” at the moment, he found time for the first interview of the year.

Of the Olympic year.

And it was also about the CHL game of the EHC Munich on Wednesday (January 4th).

Mr Söderholm, after the NHL canceled the Olympic tournament in Beijing - what is your mood like?

Toni Söderholm: I was very disappointed that it turned out that way.

I would have granted the players, the fans and us as coaches that many eyes around the world would have been on the ice for two weeks.

But it is good that the decision was made earlier than expected, so that we have clarity.

You were in North America at the beginning of December to visit the German Olympic aspirants.

Söderholm: That was just before the wave.

Not among the players, but among those responsible, the general managers and coaches, you could feel a certain unrest that the situation could get tricky.

But it wasn't until I got home that the first waves ran through the teams.

But you had a plan B for the Olympics, based on the team that impressed by reaching the semi-finals at the 2021 World Cup in Riga?

Söderholm: The World Cup team forms the framework for Beijing.

It's made up of players we know well.

The good thing is: We now also have players in Switzerland and Sweden

, that gives us more variety in what we can do .

The mood now: we'll get a good team together and have the opportunity to play successfully.

There won't be that many personal surprises, even if the Omikron wave worries me.

National ice hockey coach Söderholm: "I would be surprised if the games were postponed"

Can you imagine that, given the current unchecked infection rate, the Olympic Games will be postponed to 2023 - like Tokyo by a year?

Söderholm: We are still a month away and the situation can calm down by then.

I would be surprised if the games were postponed.

The group opponents will be Canada, USA and China.

The Chinese are obviously still trying to strengthen their team with naturalizations;

recently they had to prove in test matches that they were even mature enough to take part in the Olympic tournament.

What is your level of knowledge about China?

Söderholm: We don't know much.

But when it is written about the Chinese that they are incapable, I find it dangerous.

I want to see them first, and even if they aren't good we have to beat them and you have to prepare for that.

Americans and Canadians without NHL players have completely different squads than expected, now made up of players active in Europe.

.

.

Söderholm: Maybe there will be one or the other from the American Hockey League

league

, that wouldn't surprise me.

Could you also nominate German AHL players?

Söderholm: Only if you don't have a contract with an NHL club.

Currently this only applies to Marc Michaelis.

National ice hockey coach Söderholm: teams like EHC are "unfamiliar" for Finnish teams

Let's take a look at Munich, where you were a player and assistant coach.

The EHC will face Tappara Tampere in the semi-finals of the Champions Hockey League.

What can the Finland insider reveal about this Munich opponent?

Söderholm: Tappara are one of the teams that were the most stable in the league last year.

Tappara has become a top club in terms of both player development and business.

The team plays a very systematic ice hockey, a few years ago it was even called machine-like.

Tappara didn't start well this season, but has improved.

The EHC seem to be getting along well with Finnish teams, however, they knocked out Lukko Rauma in the quarter-finals.

Can you say that a team has a certain ice hockey culture like the Finnish one in this case?

Söderholm: In Finland the teams are a little younger than in the DEL, and almost all teams play about the same thing - when a club like Munich comes along, it's unfamiliar for the Finns, but also for Swedes and Swiss, as the CHL shows - the pattern changes.

Now Munich is in a crisis, curiously, has lost three games in a row in the penalty shootout.

How do you get out of the valley?

With the good old Canadian principle of "to regroup, to refocus" and to understand every game as a new beginning?

Söderholm: Even if it is a tense time - for a coach it is an interesting one from which you can learn.

Often it is the part-time work that doesn't work in such a phase.

For example: when you shoot, nobody is in front of the goal.

Or not all pass routes are open during construction.

A lot has to happen in order for you to score goals, and you need support, pace and timing to build well.

There are always five people in a row, and if one doesn't deliver, the whole row is outnumbered.

So what should be done specifically?

Söderholm: Ice hockey is a team sport, but in this phase everyone has to look at themselves and reflect what they are doing for the team.

And do you think from game to game?

Söderholm: From change to change.

Interview: Günter Klein