From Mannheim via Minsk to Riga / Marco Sturm: “We have to show our very best ice hockey”
With an initial squad of 25 men, the German national ice hockey team is currently preparing in Mannheim for the Olympic qualifying tournament in Riga, Latvia (September 1st - 4th, 2016). The focus is clearly on the common goal: participation in the 2018 Winter Olympics. Only the tournament winner will travel to the South Korean city of Pyeongchang.
National coach Marco Sturm can count on a nominally strong squad in Mannheim and the two preparatory games next weekend in Minsk, Belarus, against France (Saturday, August 27.8th, 16 p.m.) and Belarus (Sunday, August 28.8th, 16 p.m.). Before leaving for Latvia at the latest, Sturm will reduce his squad to 23 players (20 players plus three goalkeepers).
Next to Stanley Cup winner Tom Kühnhackl from the Pittsburgh Penguins are Dennis Seidenberg (most recently Boston Bruins), Christian Ehrhoff (most recently Chicago Blackhawks), Korbinian Holzer (Anaheim Ducks), Philipp Grubauer (Washington Capitals), Tobias Rieder (most recently Arizona Coyotes) as well as youngster Leon Draisaitl (Edmonton Oilers) six other NHL stars in the squad. The national coach has to do without the 1,93m tall Denis Reul in defense for a short time, who has to be sidelined for up to two weeks due to an arm injury.
"We are not worried about supposed favorites. We have three tough matches ahead of us. We have to show our very best hockey in Latvia right from the start and in every game," said Sturm before the games against Japan (September 01.09st / 14.30:02.09 p.m.), Austria (September 14.30nd / 04.09:17 p.m.) and Latvia (September 1th / XNUMX p.m. - all games LIVE on SPORTXNUMX). "Here in Mannheim we are now working on the finer details that we want to bring to the ice in the preparation games."
Returnee Dennis Seidenberg, who last defended for Germany at the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver and won the NHL Stanley Cup with the Boston Bruins in 2011, also confirms the words of his national coach: “Such tournament games are like playoffs. It's about doing the little things right and giving it your all. As a player, you look forward to exactly these kinds of challenges. “
National team captain Marcel Goc (Adler Mannheim), who will play his 100th international match for the selection of the Deutscher Eishockey-Bund next Sunday against Belarus (DEB) the team believes they are on the right track: “We were recently able to show what we are capable of at the World Championships in Russia. It was also clear during the first preparation phase in Füssen a few weeks ago that the boys will do everything they can to be able to take part in the Olympic Games.”
DEB-President Franz Reindl formulates the demands as follows: “Our goal is clearly to win the final qualification for participation in the 2018 Olympics. Marco Sturm is approaching this major task with an extremely meticulously and professionally prepared, very strong and absolutely motivated team.”