As part of the new measures of the training concept “The Hockey Academy”, a new Head of Development will be hired for the 2022/23 season.
The dissolution of the Swiss League team EVZ Academy has prompted EVZ to analyze and realign the training pyramid. In the future, EVZ will invest even more in the training of young players in order to be able to integrate them into the 1st team earlier. In concrete terms, this means that from the 2022/23 season, more personnel resources will be deployed and a new Head of Development will also be hired. On the one hand, this person will be responsible for training the players and coaches of the U17s and U20s, and on the other hand, he will act as an interface between the levels down to the U15s and up to the National League.
“Our evaluation has shown that there is still a lot of potential, especially in the ice training of all junior levels,” explains General Manager Reto Kläy. “The signing of a Head of Development, who will be primarily responsible for the further development of players and coaches on the ice, is one of various measures we will implement as part of the realignment.”
With Ted Suihkonen, the ideal person for this position has been found, says Reto Kläy: “We want to train our players even better in order to bring them to the top even earlier, if possible.” The promotion and further development of young players are among Suihkonen’s core competencies. The Swedish-American dual citizen has proven that in recent years in the Lokomotive Yaroslavl organization. “Yaroslavl takes a pioneering role in the field of youth development in Russia”.
Ted Suihkonen worked at the club from the big city northeast of Russia as a skills coach since 2017 and was appointed Director of Player Development in 2020. Suihkonen began his coaching career in the USA in 2004 before moving back to Sweden four years later, where he was already active as a player. He has also been active in Switzerland: From 2015 to 2017, he was part of Ambrì-Piotta’s skills coaching team.
