National ice hockey player Tim Stützle regrets the departure of Toni Söderholm as German national coach and sees big footsteps for the successor.
“To be honest, it’s a shame. I really liked Toni as a person and as a coach. He brought a lot of good things to the team and I think all the boys were always really happy to come to the national team, which maybe wasn’t the case before was,” said the 20-year-old attacker of the Ottawa Senators of the German Press Agency. “I don’t even know who’s in the spotlight. But it’s always difficult to find a person like Toni, who put so much heart into the team and always believed in us. That was the reason why so many players wanted to play a World Cup under him.”
The 44-year-old Söderholm announced his move to SC Bern in the Swiss league after the Germany Cup. Since then, the German Ice Hockey Federation has been looking for a successor to the Finn, who has held the post since 2019. Söderholm largely successfully continued the work of his predecessor Marco Sturm, who sensationally led Germany to silver at the 2018 Olympic Games. At the 2021 World Cup, the DEB selection even made it to the semi-finals under his direction. However, the early Olympic exit this year in Beijing was an unexpected setback.
