After the green light came, the German national ice hockey team didn't take long to ask. On Thursday morning, national coach Toni Söderholm's team was back in their element after the little shock on Tuesday and was allowed to return to the ice in the ARENA NÜRNBERGER Versicherung. “The players left a good impression,” said Söderholm, “it was about getting their legs moving, having a lot of contact with the glass, a lot of passes and good communication on the ice.”
The joy of being selected by the Deutscher Eishockey-Bund was palpable, the mood was remarkably good and relaxed when the approximately 48 hours in hotel isolation were over. “The first few minutes were a bit bumpy, we arrived after three days without ice and then it was another two days, so you notice that a bit. But after 15 to 20 minutes it went away, then it was a good training session,” reported Matthias Plachta from the Adler Mannheim, one of the seven newcomers to the DEB-Roster for this week. “Everyone was looking forward to being able to get back on the ice. The mood in the national team is always good anyway,” added Plachta’s teammate Markus Eisenschmid.
Tim Regan replaces Matt McIlvane on the boards against Belarus
On Tuesday, phase three of preparation for the World Cup in Riga, Latvia (May 21st to June 6th) had to be canceled before the planned first ice session. The reason for this was a positive test result from assistant coach Matt McIlvane. For the duels with Belarus on Friday and Saturday (17.00 p.m. and 15.45:1 p.m./live on MagentaSport and SPORTXNUMX) he will be replaced on the boards by Tim Regan, the assistant coach of the ERC Ingolstadt. Fortunately, the Corona test results from Wednesday and Thursday morning allowed the course to continue in coordination with the medical department. A PCR test and several rapid tests showed a negative result for all people who had previously tested negative.
Nevertheless, further precautionary measures were taken together to keep the risk as low as possible in view of the approaching World Cup tournament. Due to the brief greeting that took place within the coaching staff, assistant coaches Ville Peltonen, Alexander Dück and goalkeeping coach Ilpo Kauhanen will initially stay away from the team. In addition to Regan, U16 national coach Thomas Schädler will support Toni Söderholm during the game. “We have filled all positions twice and three times and have people in the back where we know that they have been tested and possibly have few contacts,” sports director Christian Künast explained on Wednesday.
Toni Söderholm: “Have more consistency in our game”
For the last two assessments before the start of the World Cup in the Arena Riga on May 21st against Italy (15.15:1 p.m./SPORTXNUMX) this has happened DEBteam has now firmly established a sense of success. After all, there had been a steady development in the four previous games against Slovakia and the Czech Republic, but the appropriate result as a reward was still missing. “We now want to go to the World Cup with two wins and a good feeling,” said Plachta.
DEB-Coach Söderholm wants above all a stable performance across both duels. “Overall, it is important that we have more consistency in our game,” said the Finn and highlighted two further points: “We have built a good foundation defensively, so we don’t want to see any regression. And a lot of emphasis is placed on the special teams, because that is also a main topic for the World Cup.”
