From goalkeeper to record scorer: Julia Zorn took an unusual path to become a face of German women’s ice hockey. At the weekend, the national team captain reaches for the championship title with the ESC Planegg.
Julia Zorn made the landmark decision over a decade ago. The ice hockey goalkeeper had had enough of a mask and glove – she would rather go hunting for goals herself. “I felt that I wasn’t having fun anymore,” said the ESC Planegg striker to the “SID”: “The coaches noticed that quickly and supported me in a gradual transition.”
In this “creeping transition” a face of German women’s ice hockey has emerged. Zorn leads the record champions from Planegg and the national team as captain. With 241 goals, she is at the top of the all-time Bundesliga goalscorer list.
The 31-year-old would never have dreamed of that after 15 years in goal. “I didn’t think I’d ever be able to play such a role in the Bundesliga, let alone in the national team,” said Zorn.
Unbridled will pays off
Zorn invested a lot in her extraordinary athletic development, it lasted almost two years. “I was regularly out with two ice hockey bags because I was still the substitute goalie,” said Zorn.
That is also why she was initially far from a regular place in the storm. She first had to “watch and fight to get the Ice Age,” said Zorn, who is one of 16 Bundesliga players in the Bundeswehr’s sports promotion group: “It wasn’t now that I snapped my finger and was allowed to play. So work really started all over again for me. “
But their irrepressible will has paid off long ago. At the end of their now 14th Bundesliga season, Zorn and Planegg will win the eighth championship title in club history at the weekend at the Final Four tournament in Füssen – and due to the corona crisis, the first national ice hockey title for women and men since 2019.
“There is no favorite now,” said Zorn before the semi-finals on Saturday (7pm) against ECDC Memmingen. In the event of a win, the winner from the second semi-final between the preliminary round winner ERC Ingolstadt and the Eisbären Juniors Berlin will be waiting in the final.
Great anticipation for the World Cup
The final four will be followed in two months by the world championship (May 6th to 16th) in the ice hockey motherland Canada as the highlight of the year. The final round was originally scheduled for 2020, but was initially moved to April 2021.
The anticipation is correspondingly great. “The World Cup is always something special, especially in Canada,” enthused Zorn, who missed the first three test matches in February after a year-long break against Switzerland due to a long break due to injury. The DEB selection won two comparisons against the Confederates.
That should continue in Canada. Then again with captain Zorn, as a goal scorer.
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