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Since its inception in 1987, the German Cup in the traditional November legislature has been anchored in the hockey calendar as the starting tournament for the national teams of the season. I completed six or seven myself, in different positions. The experience that has stayed in my mind is that the coaches appreciate the opportunity to chart the path of building selections for the climax of the season after the start of the club competitions.
On the other hand, proven motive clubs tend to have a break to recover from injuries. For me the awareness prevailed that in the German Cup the national selections play hockey faster with physical commitment, even if, logically, with a lower level of collaboration. The history of tournaments in Germany has led fans to regular and dramatic confrontations with twists. Several years ago, the Canadian team also took part in the cup, hastily gathered by hockey players playing in Europe, who managed to win it.
I assume that at this year’s German Cup, coach Craig Ramsay’s team, just like last year, will fight for the championship in their last match with the home team. I believe our team will return last year’s 1: 3 defeat and take the trophy to Slovakia. In any case, Krefeld will miss the advanced Swiss team, who moved to the elite company of the Euro hockey tour in the absence of the Russian selection. On the other hand, this opened up the possibility of playing in the German Cup for a newcomer from Austria.
In the opening match, a tenacious team awaits us, which tends to fight until the end. In the second game we will face Denmark, which is usually made up of players from the Scandinavian leagues. When they are later joined by some personalities from the NHL format, their strength at the championships grows, as we had the opportunity to see in person in 2010 at WC in Cologne, Germany, where the Danes surprised us with an overwhelming start. At that time, my colleague Glen Hanlon and I also had defender Petr Frühauf in the national team, who will go to the premiere in a few days in the role of assistant and at the same time scout or follower of Oto Haščák.
At the German Cup, there is usually a higher skating speed and a lower level of cooperation, reflecting the start of the season.
Peter has been a reliable defender on the national team with a good reading of the game. Even as a player, he belonged to the thinking types. I am not surprised that the union leadership intends to work with him on a long-term basis. Together, they adhered to the principle presented by the president of the union, Miroslav Šatan, who intend to give space to lesser-known or younger followers to wear the national team jersey. Their appointment didn’t surprise me either, although the organizers had to deviate from the original plan due to several injuries.
Apparently, most of the fans thought that the manager of the team, especially its defensive phase, would be Peter Čerešňák, who has also held the position of captain in the past. Too bad he was stopped by injury, as were other forwards Andrej Kollár and Róbert Lantoši. However, Mário Grman and Mislav Rosandič have the potential to keep the defense united around newcomers Michal Beň or Samuel Hain.
In the position of goalkeeper, it looked like Matej Tomek and Dominik Riečický would increase the number of international appearances. However, this was only true until Litvínov’s unfortunate match, after which Tomek had to undergo collarbone surgery after a collision with a teammate. In his place Denis Godla from Litvínov will also arrive, during the home camp in Bratislava, they will be provided by Samuel Hlavaj from slovan.
The author is a former national team player and national team coach.
