Ice hockey in Corona times
Krefeld (dpa) – This year, almost only the symbolism counts. The German Ice Hockey Federation fought with all its might for the Deutschland Cup in Krefeld, which despite all odds takes place from Thursday to Sunday and has hardly anything to do with the four-nation tournament in its usual form.
“Clearly, this is a sign of life in our sport: We are back,” said DEB President Franz Reindl of the German Press Agency before the start of the tournament.
With this, the association ends an almost eight-month standstill in German ice hockey and accepts a financial loss due to a lack of audience income. “That’s about 300,000 euros that are missing,” said Reindl, but: “The fact of being present, showing the sport of ice hockey, letting the national team get together, just takes precedence.”
National coach Toni Söderholm last looked after the national team a year ago in Krefeld. International matches and the World Cup in May then fell victim to the coronavirus pandemic. Even now, Söderholm only has contact with his players via video stream – the 42-year-old Finn tested positive for Corona. “That is clearly the greatest personal disappointment that I have experienced myself as a player or coach,” complained Söderholm, who is represented by U18 DEB coach Stefan Ziesche and the Bremerhaven DEL coach Thomas Popiesch.
The tournament did not fail because a number of possible participants canceled in Russia, Norway, Switzerland and Slovakia. The four-nation tournament became a two-nation tournament with three teams. In addition to Latvia, Germany is represented by the national team and the Olympic perspective team. But there was a positive corona case with the German talents shortly before the tournament started: Goalkeeper Mirko Pantkowski from Düsseldorfer EG is not there for a short time.
The German-German duel kicks off on Thursday (7.45 p.m. / Sport1 and MagentaSport). However, players and coaches don’t want to know anything about the lack of sporting appeal. Even the internal DEB duel could be exciting, said DEB veteran Yannic Seidenberg (36). “We all want to show that we still belong here and not the young and wild ones,” said the 2018 Olympic silver winner.
«The boys are absolutely happy to be here. You can grasp the joy. It’s great how motivated they are, ”said Söderholm representative Ziesche. «This is a very important tournament for our association. You shouldn’t underestimate the importance. “
Since the corona-related end of the season in the DEL in March, there has been no professional game operation in Germany. Reindl calls the current situation “a real horror scenario”: It is unclear whether the DEL, which is highly dependent on viewer income, can start a season this winter and should be decided on November 19th. «The consequences would be particularly dramatic for the players and the employees, but also for all organizations. Especially for the youngsters, that really worries me in the long term, »said Reindl about a possible year without first division ice hockey.
The DEB is also feeling the consequences, as it was recently on the upswing after establishing itself in the expanded world elite. “We already see the upswing as interrupted,” said Reindl. All the more he fought, sports director Stefan Schaidnagel and national coach Söderholm for the Germany Cup, which is supposed to send a kind of signal effect. “We want to use the games sensibly to give life to the sport,” affirmed striker Marcel Noebels.
At the weekend, the DEL2 and the third-class league will start playing again. After the Deutschland Cup, eight of the 14 first division clubs will start at least one preparatory tournament for a possible DEL season. “Every game in Germany is currently very important in order to bring ice hockey to life in Germany. We are facing trend-setting weeks, “said Noebels.
The tournament itself seems more important than any sporting victory. “Everyone wants to see ice hockey now. It is important that there is now a push, “said Söderholm and Noebels added:” I hope that this tournament goes off perfectly. We want to continue with our everyday life afterwards. “
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 201104-99-206908 / 3
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