At the 2022 IIHF Women’s World Championship, Czechia had a sign outside their dressing room titled “7 steps to earn it, every game.” A concept Czechia head coach Carla MacLeod has used successfully with a few teams, on the sign was a table, with rows listing the seven steps and columns for each game. Check marks and crosses indicated whether or not the team accomplished each measurable, such as having less than 20 shots against and leading after two periods.

This helped the team be process-oriented rather than results-oriented, and ensured that everyone was on the same page. The team mentality that developed through this was instrumental to Czechia winning their historic bronze.

For 2023, MacLeod has made updates to the dressing room sign. It still says “earn it, every game”, but this time it’s a puzzle. There are 10 pieces that, when complete, form a full ice rink. On each piece is a different “difference making detail” such as rebound control, blocked shots, smart changes, puck possession and shooting the puck.

“We’ve got a new theme, less about the statistical side of it and [more] our execution of the details we need,” said MacLeod. “We’re trying to build our puzzle every game and get a perfect game at the end of the day.”

Germany has found inspiration of their own in the form of a new dressing room feature developed by players Tabea Botthof and Anne Bartsch. Hanging in the middle of their room is a make-shift mobile with photos of each player on the team.

“We pulled it up on the lamp, hopefully it holds it,” laughed Botthof. “We were working on it beforehand and didn’t tell anyone until it was the evening before the first game. I think everyone really loved it, which made us really happy. We weren’t sure if it would work the way we thought it would.”

Written on the back of the photos are the individual strengths of each player. When hung together in a group, they represent the team’s strengths as a whole.

“[Botthof and Bartsch] had the idea to come up with our strengths and what everybody brings to the team so we hung those up for good energy and it seemed to work,” Laura Kluge said following the team’s opening 6-2 win over Sweden. “It’s pretty much you write what you’re good at and what you bring to the table. And then as a whole team that’s what we’re good at and what we want to show the whole world.”

The mobile has evolved throughout the tournament as well, as the team has added pictures after every win, symbolizing how they’ve put their individual and collective strengths to work.

“It was Anne [Bartsch]’s idea, we just kind of built it up before Worlds,” said Botthof. “We feel like you don’t give yourself enough credit sometimes, your character strengths and things like that, and Anne loved the idea of the mobile. It just gives us a lot of strength I think. We love that we found a place for it in the locker room too. It’s so fun.”

There’s a visible shift in both the play and the mindset of the Germans. Just seven months ago, they managed only one win, a buzzer beater win over Denmark. This year they qualified for the quarter-finals, with three preliminary round wins and a fairly tight 3-0 loss to Finland. They faced the Americans in the quarters, keeping the score to 3-0 for the U.S.

“I was just saying in the locker room, for me that was the best game I’ve played with the team against Finland so it felt amazing, and I think it showed how far we’ve come, and we found our confidence again,” Botthof said following Germany’s 3-0 loss to the Finns. “I think in past game and tournaments we kind of were struggling with that a little bit, and finding our character and finding what defines us, and this is what defines us. I don’t think we ever stopped working, I think the third period might have been the strongest one.”

Also important to the Germans is how everyone on the team has been stepping up and leading in different ways. Yes, they have captains—Daria Gleissner with the ‘C’ and Laura Kluge and Bernadette Karpf with the ‘A’s—but they truly see themselves as a collective.

“I think that’s also what defines us as a team is it doesn’t matter,” said Botthof about her and Bartsch taking the lead with the dressing room mobile. “Everyone’s taking charge, everyone’s confident enough to speak up or do the things they have to do to make the team better and that’s just so much fun. When our new assistant coach came in he asked, ‘Who are the leaders, the three leaders?’ And we were like, no, there’s nothing like that. All of us are leaders. It’s so fun to have a group like that.”