FÜSSEN, Germany – A new face joined the staff of the German women’s national team at the recent camp in Füssen. Former national team player Lenny Soccio will assist long-time head coach Peter Kathan.

The 44-year-old, who was born in Thorald, Ontario, arrived in Germany in 1994. He played eleven seasons for the Hannover/Wedemark Scorpions and hasn’t left the region since.

Soccio became German and represented his new country in four IIHF World Championships (three in the Top Division) and the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City.

After ending his professional career, he built his own ice rink, the Lenny Soccio Ice & Event Center, in Langenhagen near Hanover and dressed up for his local third-tier team as a player-coach.

Soccio is also connected to women’s hockey through his daughter who is part of the U15 national team.

The German women’s national team mostly played in the Top Division until it was relegated in 2008. This year on home ice in Ravensburg the Germans won the Division I event and qualified for the 2012 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship in Burlington, Vermont (USA).