The tearful farewell of Kloten coach Tomlinson

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The door of Klotener’s wardrobe remains closed for a long time after the 0:5 defeat in Bern. When the team then goes back on the ice to say goodbye to the fans, all players fight back tears. Coach Jeff Tomlinson also has watery eyes. “It was really hard to be in front of the players. I thought I could control myself, but I wasn’t. There are no words for a moment like that.”

With the end of the season, Tomlinson’s coaching career ends at the same time. For health reasons, the father of four children has to step down. And give up his dream job – which the former striker never wanted to do. This is the story of a Canadian who left a deep mark on Swiss ice hockey.

It is a serious knee injury that abruptly ended Tomlinson’s playing career in 2002. At that time he was under contract with the Eisbären Berlin, which was still running for a season. “I was asked if I could help as a youth coach,” the 52-year-old recalls. It is his first post as a coach. As assistant coach of the DEL team, Tomlinson won the league title in 2008 and 2009.

After that, educational years follow. After two seasons with Düsseldorf, he fails in Nuremberg. He will be released in December 2012. The polar bears get their protégé back. A season later, in December 2014, he is fired and made a scapegoat. “They pointed the finger at me.” Months of self-doubt followed before he was signed by the SCRJ Lakers in June 2015.

“I couldn’t have written a better screenplay”

“I came to Rappi like a Berlin pawn sacrifice,” says Tomlinson, “I was down.” Like the Obersee club after relegation to the Swiss league. “It was a fresh start for me.” The same goes for the Lakers. What the Canadian doesn’t know yet, but soon feels: he fits perfectly with the SCRJ and vice versa. “That was my luck.” Because that’s where the sporting success story of Jeff Tomlinson begins, “whose screenplay I couldn’t have written better”.

He remembers a headline from that era calling him a nobody. However, his goal is never to become a big name. “I can live in modesty and like modest surroundings.” Tomlinson’s application documents state his motivation as a coach: “I want to be part of building a team.” That’s why he signed with the Lakers, that’s why he switched to Kloten. He has more than proven that this is precisely his strength: forming a team, consolidating it, putting it on a solid foundation and steering it towards a stable future.

Triple season and kidney transplant

2018 is Tomlinson’s legendary treble season with another cup win, SL title and promotion. He leads the Lakers back to the National League at the expense of Kloten in the seventh league game. He then establishes it in the House of Lords, though kidney disease steadily drains him of energy. In the autumn of 2019, he will receive a donor kidney from his brother.

The health concerns have not stopped Kloten from aiming for a return to the National League with Tomlinson in 2021. The authentic trainer actually manages the feat: for the second time, he becomes a promotion hero. Not only that, he impressed all of hockey Switzerland with Kloten’s performance.

So soon after the emotional end, Tomlinson still finds it hard to look back on his eight years as a coach in Switzerland and realize what he has achieved. Only so much: “It was a perfect trip.” He is at peace with the fact that he has to resign for health reasons. The fact that before his retirement he put Kloten’s team, for whom he will continue to act as an advisor, on a stable basis, fills his coaching heart with satisfaction. “If I hadn’t succeeded, I would never have forgiven myself.”

Jeff Tomlinson, ever came like nobody, go like? “Jeff,” he replies with a smile.

Source : Blick