A solution was sought and found: The Deutscher Eishockey-Bund will carry out the planned course for a perspective team from the national ice hockey team under changed circumstances. Current corona-related developments have made these adjustments necessary. Due to inevitable cancellations and partial quarantine orders, national coach Toni Söderholm (Photo: Dominic Pencz) will work with a squad of 20 players and three goalkeepers, instead of the intended squad of three full ranks from the top team Beijing and three ranks from the U20 team and a total of four goalkeepers.
The sporting value and benefit of the course still remains and therefore DEB-Coach the measure also in preparation for the Deutschland Cup from 5 to 8 November 2020 in Krefeld. However, due to the current situation, it was not possible for the U20 national team to take part in a tournament in Dresden at the beginning of October.
The top talents Moritz Seider, Tim Stützle or Dominik Bokk or up-and-coming players like Stefan Loibl, Andreas Eder, Tim Wohlgemuth or Tim Brunnhuber: Toni Söderholm will also be taking a look at some of the more established names during the course. The event from 27 to 30 September in Füssen is the first of a part of the DEB-Selection since February 2020 and is already part of the long-term preparation for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. In addition to Söderholm, the coaching team also includes U20 national coach Tobias Abstreiter, U18 national coach Steffen Ziesche and goalie coach Ilpo Kauhanen.
All participants in the course and all accompanying people on the team arrive with a current negative corona test and will be tested again before departure. Due to the very strict implementation of the hygiene concept, the measure takes place without the public.
Shortly before the start of the course there was a personnel change in the goalkeeper position. Because of quarantine requirements - instead of the Düsseldorfers Goalies Hendrik Hane and Mirko Pantkowski – Daniel Fießinger from Munich and Arno Tiefensee from Mannheim are also there.
DEB-Sports Director Stefan Schaidnagel: “In the last few days, corona-related measures in the clubs have meant that the national team's perspective team's course could not be maintained in its original form. We therefore immediately worked on an alternative model, which fortunately was possible. We complete the course very responsibly, in consultation with our medical advisory team and as safely as possible. This includes corona tests before traveling to the course, tests as part of the course and a very disciplined implementation of the hygiene concept. These are the absolute prerequisites for us, and we are also of the opinion that this course will also be very valuable for us in terms of sport.”
National coach Toni Söderholm: "I am very happy that we have found a way to implement this course. There are players whose development has been very positive, and we have also been told this by the clubs. A number of players now experience our training regularly and we can therefore see ongoing development. The focus of the course will be on the amount of training on the ice. The Deutschland Cup “It’s not that far away and that’s why the course counts as preparation.”
The squad for the course in Füssen:
