Off to Canada! The U20 World Cup starts in Edmonton on December 25th – and two ice hockey cracks from the Wolfsburg Grizzly are there! Defender Steven Raabe and attacker Jan Nijenhuis have made the leap into the squad nominated by national coach Tobias Abstreiter on Wednesday. In addition to the 27-man squad, ten players also take part on demand in order to be able to react in the event of failures.
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The tournament known internationally as “World Juniors” is very important, and upcoming NHL stars often play there – so is Tim Stützle for the DEB selection, who was drawn in third place in the first round of the draft by the Ottawa Senators in the summer , nominated, should be fit again by the tournament despite an injury. Lukas Reichel (Eisbären Berlin, drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks) and John-Jason Peterka (EHC Munich, drafted by the Buffalo Sabers) are also there – and in the middle Raabe and Nijenhuis.
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“As a young player, you always dream of being able to play in the U20 World Cup – wow!”, Said Raabe happily about the nomination. “The tournament has become more and more popular. And in Canada it’s sure to be even more fun.“In the motherland of ice hockey, the tournament is also more important, and the NHL will not play again during this period – so the tournament will attract even more attention.
Both Raabe and Nijenhuis had already been part of the German Perspektiven team for the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing in November and participated in the Germany Cup with them. “There we had players with us who we knew had a good chance of getting into the squad,” explains coach Abstreiter.
In Edmonton, Germany will face Finland, Canada, Switzerland and Slovakia in Group A. Austria, Russia, Sweden, the Czech Republic and the USA compete in Group B. There will be no relegation from the top division, as the other U20 tournaments have been canceled. The tournament will take place in Edmonton, modeled on the NHL playoffs, in a “bubble”, ie isolated from spectators. “It will be a unique experience, even if it would of course be nicer with the fans,” believes Nijenhuis, who already has experience in Canada: “I’ve been to Toronto twice with the young eagles Mannheim. But never in Edmonton.”
On December 13th, after a preparatory phase in Füssen (from December 6th), the DEB team will fly from Zurich to Canada, will have to remain in isolation there for a few days after arrival and will probably start training on December 18th. Before the game against Finland starts on the night of December 25th to 26th (midnight German time), test matches against Austria (December 21st) and the Czech Republic (December 23rd) are on the program. So Raabe and Nijenhuis are not at home over Christmas – “But for an event like this, I’ll accept that,” says Raabe with a smile. “I’m just happy to be there.” That also applies to Nijenhuis: “The anticipation is huge. But the focus is still on Wolfsburg, so that we are well prepared to go to Füssen and then to Canada,” said the attacker.
The DEB squad for the U20 World Cup in Edmonton
Tor: Tobias Ancicka (Berlin), Florian Bugl (Salzburg), Arno Tiefensee (Mannheim / Heilbronn).
Defense: Lucas Flade (Dresden), Maximilian Glötzl (Cologne / Bad Nauheim), Simon Gnyp (Cologne / Bad Nauheim), Niklas Länger (Augsburg), Luca Münzenberger (Cologne), Tommy Pasanen (Clarkson University), Masymilian Szuber (Salzburg), Mario Carpenter (Landshut), Steven Raabe (Wolfsburg).
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Attack: Manuel Alberg (Salzburg), Jakub Borzecki (Salzburg), Julian Chrobot (Cologne / Bad Nauheim), Samuel Dubé (Salzburg), Florian Elias (Mannheim / Heilbronn), Nino Kinder (Berlin), Elias Lindner (Salzburg), Jan Nijenhuis (Wolfsburg), John-Jason Peterka (Munich), Lukas Reichel (Berlin), Filip Reisnecker (Bremerhaven), Joshua Samanski (Owen Sound Attack), Tim Stützle (Mannheim), Justin Volek (Ravensburg), Markus Schweiger (Kaufbeuren).
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