Toni Söderholm, the coach of EHC Munich, who always seems withdrawn, was very excited. The Finn said goodbye to the Grizzlys Wolfsburg delegation with a humorous remark towards the managing director Charly Fliegauf, who was wearing eye-catching shoes with which he could have appeared in a dance revue. The Munich team won the fourth game of the quarter-finals in the German Ice Hockey League (DEL) with 2-1 goals and the entire series with the ideal score of 4-0. “Two weeks ago,” said striker Filip Varejcka, who scored the decisive goal on Sunday, “that was still unlikely.”
But precisely because it happened like that and the games against Wolfsburg were clearly structured (6:3, 7:3, 4:3, 2:1), the Munich team are now doing quite well again. And so did their coach: The Finn Toni Söderholm, 45 years old, took over the team in the summer of 2023 as champions and deeply influenced by the American Don Jackson – and he was already in danger of failing. Now the team has managed to improve its performance at the right time of the season and has fought back to its old status. “Now every opponent will look twice again. I don’t think anyone will have an easy time with us,” announces Varejcka.
The EHC Munich, which will move in September to the “SAP Garden” arena built by its owner Red Bull at the other end of the Munich Olympic Park, has had a DEL main round in which it never got into sustained form. Fifth place was the worst finish since the 2013/14 season, when Pierre Pagé was still responsible (then seventh), and the Munich team had to go into the play-offs without the familiar home advantage. In the Champions Hockey League, which the lender values highly because of its international presence, the EHC was eliminated earlier than usual, in the round of 16 by Servette Geneva. The fans criticized Söderholm because he wanted to spice up the style of play that had been established over nine years under Jackson and that led to an unusually high number of defeats.
There have not yet been any shouts of recognition for Söderholm
There didn’t seem to be a fit between the former defender, who played for Munich in 2015/16 and, on the advice of Jackson, embarked on a coaching career that quickly took him to the position of German national coach. But in 2022/23 Toni Söderholm experienced a career break: despite a contract extension that had recently taken place, he quit the German Ice Hockey Association and moved to SC Bern in Switzerland, but only lasted a few months. After Jackson, who left internally for the newly created position of “Head of Coaches’ Development”, he was the big solution for Munich, including the smell of the stable.
But it was obvious that long-standing top executives were weakening. Andreas Eder, who was supposed to be a player around whom the team would be built because of his Bavarian origins from Tegernsee, said goodbye to EV Zug in Switzerland in the middle of the season. Next to Söderholm on the board for a week there was suddenly old master Don Jackson again. Officially to replace assistant coach Pekka Kangasalusta, who suffered a concussion in a training accident in January. The Munich fans celebrated Jackson on his short comeback, but there were still no appreciative shouts for Söderholm.
Bernd Schwickerath Published/Updated: Recommendations: 8 Bernd Schwickerath Published/Updated: Recommendations: 4 Bernd Schwickerath, Cologne Published/Updated:
Nevertheless, something happened between the main round and the play-offs, into which Munich entered “with two incredible games,” according to Varejcka. The national player praises Söderholm’s ice time management (“He did a good job”), but also suggests that a lot came from the group: “We have enough class in the team if everyone puts their ego aside.” That’s what it’s about meetings given. “Regardless of who is the coach, it is important that we function as a team. Toni supports us in this.” What Söderholm had pondered about weeks ago could still happen: “I thought we had a team that was already strong in the fall. But maybe we are a spring team.”