2017 marked by Germany and France
Germany and France will meet in various tournaments before welcoming the world together as hosts of the 2017 IIHF World Championship in May.
It's the year of the home World Cup. Both for Germany and for France. For the first time in the history of ice hockey, two nations are holding a top division world championship based on a joint application. From May 5th to 21st, 2017, the 16 strongest ice hockey nations will compete in two groups in Paris and Cologne. The best four teams then fight for the world championship title in the final round in Cologne.
An action that is not just for... Fans meets with enthusiasm. Gabin Ville, player of the French U20 national team, sees the potential of a jointly organized World Cup: “When two such committed countries work together so intensively, only something good can come of it. Ideally, this ensures that interest in the sport continues to spread over one year is spread over a larger area.”
Right at the beginning of the new year, ski ace Felix Neureuther from DEB-President Franz Reindl appointed the first German ambassador to the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Cologne / Paris. Two days earlier, the French were able to celebrate a new attendance record at the outdoor game between the Lyon Lions and the Grenoble Bruleurs de Loups. Total 25.182 Fans watched the outdoor game. So the signs for the “Together For 2017” project are good. Ticket sales are in full swing and preparations are becoming more concrete. “A home World Cup is something very special. We want to present ourselves well and hope for a lot of spectators,” says national coach Marco Sturm, looking forward to the big event. “I was there myself in 2001 and I also lived from the spectators. You need support, especially when things aren’t going well.”
In December 2016, Sturm was there as an assistant coach when the two U20 young talent teams met at the 2017 IIHF U20 Ice Hockey World Championship Div.I in Bremerhaven. France presented themselves as newcomers in a tight field with an aggressive and creative playing style and finished the tournament in third place. Germany narrowly missed out on promotion to the top division despite an overall strong performance. The team led by BundesYoung talent coach Christian Künast ultimately ended up in second place behind Belarus with a defeat.
And on the way to the World Championship in May, the two associations will not only sit across from each other at the conference table, but also face each other on the ice a few more times. In the women's division, the U18 women's teams will meet at the 2017 IIHF U18 Women's Ice Hockey World Championship Div.IA in Hungary at the beginning of January, and then the women will meet at the Olympic qualifiers in Japan at the beginning of February. The French women's national team was able to keep the dream of participating in the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea alive when they secured their ticket for the last free place at the tournament in Japan in December. Germany had already secured their place in the qualifications thanks to their world ranking. In April, the U18 teams from both associations will then fight for promotion to the top eight teams in the world at the 2017 IIHF U18 Ice Hockey World Championship in Slovenia, before the ice hockey highlight of the year finally opens in Cologne and Paris on May 5 - but then Germany and France can only meet in the semifinals at the earliest.