VA few weeks ago, on the way back from an ice hockey game in Kaufbeuren that he had been watching, Franz-David Fritzmeier had a long phone conversation in the car. At the other end: Matti Tiilikainen, who coached the Frankfurt Lions from 2018 to 2020 and with whom the sports director regularly exchanged ideas even after his departure. Fritzmeier, he said on Thursday, spoke to Tiilikainen about the future of the lions; about what the club now needs to be successful in the second year after promotion to the German Ice Hockey League. And at some point during the conversation, Fritzmeier had a thought: “That Matti is exactly the right coach for us at the moment.”
About a month later, Tiilikainen is sitting in Frankfurt and is presented as the one with whom the club wants to take the next step. According to Fritzmeier, this was preceded by “tough negotiations” with the Finnish association, where the 35-year-old was still under contract as a youth coach. And less tough negotiations that the father of three children had to conduct with his family, who this time will not be moving to Frankfurt permanently. “My wife and I have been together for 18 years, I’ve been coaching for 15 years. She’s used to it,” said Tiilikainen. Fritzmeier had visited him in Finland for a week, talked about what had happened since Tiilikainen left the club and what he intends to do with the lions. After that, everyone involved was certain: we’ll get on with it.
“I’ve known since Christmas that something had to happen,” says the sports director, referring to the team, which was initially driven by the spirit of promotion and then increasingly stagnated not just a few top players.” Tiilikainen should be able to do this together with the enlarged coaching team, which has been expanded to include another assistant coach in Janne Kujala. “He’s the right man because he has experience, but he’s also a coach who wants to further develop himself and the team,” says Fritzmeier.
A haven of peace in difficult times
The Finn will now gradually get to know his team. Some have been training together again for a few days. “The team looks good. We’ll be hard to beat,” says Tiilikainen, and he already knows a little more than many others: the club has already signed three to four players as newcomers, but hasn’t announced them yet, says Fritzmeier. The sports director is still looking for a goalkeeper, a defender, a center and a winger. At the start of the new season, the squad should include 14 forwards, eight defenders and three goalies.
Tiilikainen, who, like everyone else in the coaching team, received a two-year contract, took up his first professional position as an inexperienced coach in 2018 and led the lions to first place in the main round of the DEL2 in both seasons. At that time he relied on talents like Luis Schinko, Maximilian Eisenmenger or Leon Hüttl, who is now a national player, and was always a haven of peace even during a difficult phase with almost a dozen injured players, although things didn’t go as desired. Tiilikainen also managed to get team leaders like Adam Mitchell and Eduard Lewandowski to respect him, which speaks for his professional qualities.
When his home club Hämeenlinnan Pallokerho (HPK), then current Finnish champions, signed him, the matter seemed clear: someone had grown up a bit too quickly for the Löwen Frankfurt, who were still playing in the second division. At HPK, he was released as a sophomore, the first time in a career that had started early as a youth coach after Tiilikainen retired at the age of 20 due to multiple injuries. He used the time after his release to continue his education. His former club recently ended the season in a worse place than under him. Fritzmeier is convinced that the experience at HPK has allowed him to mature again: “You’re only a real coach,” says the sporting director, “when you’ve been fired.”