Quick Facts
Biography
Toni Kristian Söderholm (born April 14, 1978) is a Finnish ice hockey coach and a retired professional ice hockey defenceman. He has been serving as development coach of German team EHC München since June 2016.
Playing career
A native of Finland’s capital city of Helsinki, Söderholm played in the HIFK youth system in the early- and mid-1990s before taking his game to North America. From 1995 to 1997, he attended Trinity College School in Ontario, then returned to HIFK for the 1997-98 season and headed over the pond again to enroll at the University of Massachusetts. He served as team captain for the Minutemen his senior year (2001-02).
Upon graduation, Söderholm returned to HIFK and received Liiga Rookie of the Year honors in the 2002-03 season. In his second year in the league, Söderholm won the Pekka Rautakallio Award as the Defenceman of the Year. After his third season, in which he served as HIFK captain, he took up an offer from Switzerland and embarked on a two-year stint with SC Bern of the National League A (NLA) in 2005. Söderholm then signed with Frölunda HC of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) in 2007. In the course of the second season with Frölunda, he returned to HIFK. Söderholm won the Finnish championship with HIFK in 2011 and was presented with the Jari Kurri Award as the MVP of the playoffs.
On April 7, 2015, after a total of 10 seasons with HIFK's men's team, Söderholm left abroad for a second time in his professional career in signing to provide a veteran presence on a one-year contract with German club EHC München of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). He won the German championship in his single season with the München team and announced the end of his playing career some weeks later in May 2016.
International play
Söderholm earned his first caps for Finland's men's national team during the 2002-03 Euro Hockey Tour. In 2004, he competed in his first World Championship with Team Finland and also made the roster for the 2005 and 2007 World Championships, winning silver in 2007.
Coaching career
In June 2016, a couple of weeks after he put an end to his playing career, Söderholm was named development coach of EHC München of the German top-flight Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL).
Career statistics
Regular season and playoffs
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
| 1998–99 | UMass Minutemen | HE | 35 | 1 | 8 | 9 | 64 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1999–00 | UMass Minutemen | HE | 32 | 3 | 12 | 15 | 32 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2000–01 | UMass Minutemen | HE | 24 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 23 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2001–02 | UMass Minutemen | HE | 33 | 2 | 15 | 17 | 28 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2002–03 | HIFK | SM-l | 52 | 8 | 15 | 23 | 49 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | ||
| 2003–04 | HIFK | SM-l | 56 | 16 | 21 | 37 | 72 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | ||
| 2004–05 | HIFK | SM-l | 51 | 5 | 19 | 24 | 30 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 2005–06 | SC Bern | NLA | 44 | 12 | 12 | 24 | 38 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 8 | ||
| 2006–07 | SC Bern | NLA | 40 | 7 | 14 | 21 | 44 | 17 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 14 | ||
| 2007–08 | Frölunda HC | SEL | 53 | 6 | 14 | 20 | 66 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | ||
| 2008–09 | Frölunda HC | SEL | 36 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 53 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2008–09 | HIFK | SM-l | 7 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 29 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2009–10 | HIFK | SM-l | 55 | 5 | 16 | 21 | 34 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 | ||
| 2010–11 | HIFK | SM-l | 55 | 5 | 20 | 25 | 62 | 16 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 12 | ||
| 2011–12 | HIFK | SM-l | 60 | 8 | 39 | 47 | 66 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | ||
| 2012–13 | HIFK | SM-l | 53 | 4 | 23 | 27 | 84 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 4 | ||
| 2013–14 | HIFK | Liiga | 49 | 6 | 22 | 28 | 32 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2014–15 | HIFK | Liiga | 25 | 1 | 11 | 12 | 24 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 6 | ||
| 2015–16 | EHC München | DEL | 50 | 6 | 20 | 26 | 66 | 14 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 22 | ||
| Liiga totals | 463 | 60 | 187 | 247 | 482 | 66 | 11 | 19 | 30 | 36 | ||||
International
| Year | Team | Event | Result | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Finland | WC | 6th | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
| 2005 | Finland | WC | 7th | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2007 | Finland | WC |  | 9 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |
| Senior totals | 19 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 10 | ||||