Ice hockey has determined their lives for decades: the family of HCD coach Holden takes a deep look

The family has come together. The daughters Noa (23), Maren (21) and Kapri (19) are sitting at the table. They were all born in a different country, but Switzerland has been home for all of them since 2005. Noa was born in Vancouver (Ka). Her parents met there in 1999. “You want to hear this story,” she laughs. Absolute.

Janie, an American from Arizona, is visiting a friend in Vancouver. “We were in a taxi and almost hit a man in the street,” she says. It’s Josh Holden, drafted by the Canucks in 1996, who is in the southwestern Canadian metropolis for summer training. They keep running into each other that day because Janie’s girlfriend is dating one of his teammates. Without further ado, Rushman books a flight for the following weekend and visits Janie in Arizona.

They fall in love. She doesn’t think about what life as a player’s wife might be like. “No worries either,” says the mother of four children, who married her son Cody at the time. 13 moves in the first ten years? The Holdens overcame this as a family. Maren was born in Scottsdale, Arizona. Kapri in Finland when her father played for HPK in 2004/05.

She then moved to Switzerland, to Fribourg, Langnau and later Zug, which became her home. Holden played for EVZ from 2008 to 2018 and then remained an assistant coach for another five years. The family knows how unusual it is for a foreigner to stay at the same club for so long. She’s been through enough. However, the past seven seasons as a player have not been easy. The striker only signs contracts for one year. “We were restless at times because we didn’t know what was going to happen for a long time,” Janie Holden remembers.

However, one thing is always out of the question: it is clear to the family that wherever her husband and father’s hockey takes them, they will go with him and adapt. For outsiders, this unconditional willingness is often difficult to understand, but sometimes admirable. However, the Holdens don’t see it as a sacrifice. ‘Thanks to this hockey life, we have grown even closer together as a family,’ is how the coach’s wife describes it, ‘our daughters know nothing else. .” The Holdens consider this lifestyle a gift and love every place it has taken them. “It’s all a matter of perspective,” adds daughter Noa, “some would see it as a sacrifice, we would see it as a see adventure.”

The person who gave this to them comes home to say hello. You feel that the Holdens have an intimate, open and warm relationship with a lot of humor. Not a day goes by that the HCD head coach is not aware of what his family does for him and means to him. “I am the happiest husband and father, and so proud of her.”

His daughters grew up knowing they had to be quiet when their father took an afternoon nap on game days. “We immediately knew we had to be quiet,” Noa grins, “that is still the case today.” Even as a trainer, Holden (Sz/Ka) with dual nationality maintains this habit. But he has given up his old pre-game snack, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. As little girls, his daughters would lovingly wrap this or a piece of banana bread for him and leave little notes on the foil as a good luck charm.

More rituals? Everyone grins. The sisters had lucky necklaces, decorated their father’s tenus with rhinestones, Noa designed clothes with pieces of hockey bibs, “and during the drive to the games we always listen to Taylor Swift songs,” they say laughing. But how does it feel to be able to see your loved one, your father, at work – along with thousands of other people? Janie Holden takes a deep breath. “When we come to the room and I see all the people who are there for the team, including Josh, I feel the pressure. I really hope they can deliver.”

It is important for the middle daughter Maren to be present at the matches live. “I feel like the best way I can support Dad is when he knows one of us is there.” The Davos coach nods. “That’s right, that makes me feel good.” The family always has a hidden hand signal with which they greet each other. Even when Josh Holden was still a player – and now on the board.

Cody Holden (32), living in Arth SZ, also watches all the matches and then the highlights. For him, it was always incomparable when his adoptive father scored decisive goals in important matches and then saw him celebrate. I hope he celebrates the same success as a coach as he did as a player.” He is only relieved about one difference between his career as a player and as a coach: “I no longer have to fear serious injuries.” His mother never did that, by the way: “Josh always told me not to be afraid, as long as he got up again.”

But besides the tension, the adrenaline, the tension and the cheering, there are also moments with difficult emotions. Youngest daughter Kapri’s protective instinct is strong: “When my father was booed as a player, it always irritated me.” Mom Janie recounts an experience during the Spengler Cup when Josh Holden was playing for Team Canada and Maren, who was only seven years old, was running around with a Holden tune: “People were screaming. F… you Holden, f… you.” Unlike Kapri, Maren just smiled.

As a player, Josh Holden was an entertainer; as a coach his modest and balanced personality comes to the fore. But whether it is a forward or a coach, whether it is the regular season or the playoffs, for the three Holden girls, he is just their father. “He was never tense at home, not even in the play-offs. He would always help us with our homework,” Kapri recalls, “or he would brush our hair – and sometimes we would brush his hair, because he wore it for a long time as a player.”

The hockey family still has countless memories to share from all these years, but Josh Holden only has time for a short walk with the family dog ​​Lumi before he has to go back to the rink. His loved ones are looking forward to the quarter-final against Lausanne on Saturday evening.