The German women's national team can look forward to their first three international matches in a year. After a long time of waiting, the cancellation of the World Cup last year, multiple postponements of the qualifying tournament for the Olympics and the cancellation of international matches in December, the selection of the Deutscher Eishockey-Bund can finally compete at international level again. Women's national coach Christian Künast, currently working as interim sports director and also on site in this role, will be represented on the boards in the duels with Switzerland by U18 women's national coach Franziska Busch.
Unlike the canceled men's international matches, the women's national team has the entire international game window available, which means the load can be better controlled and the health risks are more manageable. There is a whole week's break between the last of the three international matches and the next matchday in the women's Bundesliga. In addition, it has DEB Thanks to the numerous courses run by the Bundeswehr's sports support group this season, we have a wide range of training data on the national players, which helps a lot with monitoring.
The DEB-Team meets on February 9th in Füssen and travels on to Lake Constance to Romanshorn in Switzerland the following day. Before departure, the players as well as the coaching and support staff first receive a rapid test, then a PCR test and stay in their rooms until the PCR result is received. The performance comparisons are scheduled for three consecutive days in Romanshorn on February 11th, 12th and 13th. Due to the pandemic, the games will be played without an audience and both associations reserve the right to react flexibly to current developments in the Corona situation until then.
They had the last international matches DEBselection in February 2020. Due to the coronavirus, this season there has only been the opportunity to attend various training courses at the national base. For the women's national team, the games are an important assessment of their position - especially with a view to the World Cup tournament in Canada. The squad was put together against this background.
U18 women’s national coach Franziska Busch: “The team is excited and really excited. The longer the season lasts, the more important the games are for us. We haven't had a single opportunity to play an international match this season, so we have to try to play when it's healthy, because that remains the overarching benchmark. For us, the games are part of our World Cup preparation; they are the last chance we have before direct World Cup preparation. Then players from overseas are added to the squad selection. We want to implement the things that we have developed in the various courses. Thanks to the Bundeswehr sports support group, we were able to work regularly with a large number of players in the squad, and we are extremely grateful for that.”
