National coach Toni Söderholm and his coaching team made the final personnel decisions and nominated the German national ice hockey team squad for the 2021 IIHF World Championships in Riga. The Deutscher Eishockey-Bund team will travel to Latvia on Saturday with 24 players and will be reinforced there by three other professionals from North America. With the charter flights from the NHL, Tobias Rieder (Buffalo Sabres), Lean Bergmann (San Jose Sharks) and Leon Gawanke (Manitoba Moose/AHL) will travel directly to the World Cup venue DEB-Increase roster to 27 players. It means that DEB-Coach Söderholm still has a place available for a possible replacement.
Rieder from Landshut will appear for the national team for the first time since the home World Cup in 2017. Bergmann and Gawanke were part of the team in November 2020 DEB-Selection at Deutschland Cup, before they then flew to North America and completed their season there. Gawanke, whose NHL rights are held by the Winnipeg Jets, had a few games in the PENNY DEL for them before returning overseas Eisbären Berlin disputed. In total, the German team initially includes three goalkeepers, nine defenders and 15 strikers. Changes are possible from World Cup game to World Cup game from the entire 27-man squad.
After arriving on Saturday, players and support staff will first go into three days of individual isolation in the team hotel. Only then will the first ice training be possible in the Arena Riga. The prerequisite for entry into Latvia is that each player and staff member has had three negative PCR tests since May 10th, and further tests will be carried out in quarantine. On May 21st (15.15:1 p.m./SPORT11.15), the German team will start this special World Cup tournament against Italy. The next day will be the duel with Norway (1:19.15 a.m./SPORT1), and the third World Cup opponent two days later will be Canada (XNUMX:XNUMX p.m./SPORTXNUMX).
National coach Toni Söderholm: “These personnel decisions were not an easy or pleasant task for me personally. Many players improved incredibly over the two or three weeks and came here with incredible passion and saw the World Cup as a big goal for themselves. It's hard to then tell them they can't come, but that's part of my job. The professionals from North America will once again bring special elements to our game, and we will hopefully benefit from that.
Everyone is now excited about what awaits us and is looking forward to it, you could see and feel it from the discussions in the dressing rooms. In the last few days we have been able to implement our topics well. If the whole group comes together now, there will be even more energy in training and more speed. We need the three units in Riga before we get started. Mentally we are definitely ready to play, now we have to make sure we are in good physical shape too.”
DEB-Sports director Christian Künast: “I know from my own experience how difficult it is for a coach to make such final decisions. I also know how much thought Toni put into before settling on this selection. I am convinced that our coaching team will send the best possible team into the tournament.”
All DEB-Games at a glance:
Friday, May 21st (15:15 p.m.): Germany – Italy (live on SPORT1)
Saturday, May 22nd (11:15 a.m.): Norway – Germany (live on SPORT1)
Monday, May 24 (19:15 p.m.): Germany – Canada (live on SPORT1)
Wednesday, May 26th (15:15 p.m.): Kazakhstan – Germany (live on SPORT1)
Saturday, May 29th (19:15 p.m.): Germany – Finland (live on SPORT1)
Monday, May 31st (15:15 p.m.): USA – Germany (live on SPORT1)
Tuesday, June 1st (19:15 p.m.): Germany – Latvia (live on SPORT1)
DEB-IIHF World Cup 2021 squad
| Pos | No. | First Name | Last Name | Born Date | Club 2020/2021 | International matches |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GK | 90 | Brückmann | Felix | 16.12.1990 | Adler Mannheim | 29 |
| GK | 35 | Niederberger | Mathias | 26.11.1992 | Eisbären Berlin | 41 |
| GK | 31 | Treutle | Niklas | 29.04.1991 | Nürnberg Ice Tigers | 38 |
| D | 3 | Bittner | Dominik | 10.06.1992 | Grizzlys Wolfsburg | 9 |
| D | 85 | Brandt | Marcel | 08.05.1992 | Straubing Tigers | 18 |
| D | 9 | Gawanke | Leon | 31.05.1999 | Manitoba Moose | 3 |
| D | 5 | Holzer | Korbinian | 16.02.1988 | Awtomobilist Jekaterinburg | 70 |
| D | 41 | Müller | Jonas | 19.11.1995 | Eisbären Berlin | 45 |
| D | 91 | Müller | Moritz | 19.11.1986 | Kölner Haie | 158 |
| D | 11 | Nowak | Marco | 23.07.1990 | Düsseldorfer EG | 41 |
| D | 53 | Seider | Moritz | 06.04.2001 | Rögle BK | 6 |
| D | 38 | Wagner | Fabio | 17.09.1995 | ERC Ingolstadt | 24 |
| F | 54 | Bergmann | Lean | 04.10.1998 | San Jose Sharks | 20 |
| F | 96 | Eder | Andreas | 20.03.1996 | Straubing Tigers | 13 |
| F | 58 | Eisenschmid | Markus | 22.01.1995 | Adler Mannheim | 26 |
| F | 77 | Fischbuch | Daniel | 19.08.1993 | Düsseldorfer EG | 10 |
| F | 7 | Kastner | Maximilian | 03.01.1993 | Red Bull München | 9 |
| F | 21 | Krämmer | Nicolas | 23.10.1992 | Adler Mannheim | 51 |
| F | 34 | Kühnhackl | Tom | 21.01.1992 | Bridgeport Sound Tigers | 5 |
| F | 15 | Loibl | Stefan | 24.06.1996 | Adler Mannheim | 26 |
| F | 92 | Noebels | Marcel | 14.03.1992 | Eisbären Berlin | 84 |
| F | 24 | Peterka | John | 14.01.2002 | Red Bull München | 4 |
| F | 83 | Pföderl | Leonhard | 01.09.1993 | Eisbären Berlin | 41 |
| F | 22 | Plachta | Matthias | 16.05.1991 | Adler Mannheim | 93 |
| F | 73 | Reichel | Lukas | 17.05.2002 | Eisbären Berlin | 3 |
| F | 8 | Rieder | Tobias | 10.01.1993 | Buffalo Sabres | 39 |
| F | 95 | Tiffels | Frederik | 20.05.1995 | Kölner Haie | 51 |
STAFF: Christian Künast (sports director), Toni Söderholm (head coach), Ville Peltonen (assistant coach), Matt McIlvane (assistant coach), Alexander Dück (assistant coach), Ilpo Kauhanen (goalkeeping coach), Jannik Kirchenkamp (athletic coach), Horst Fuchs (team manager), Fabian Blanke (team doctor), Thomas Stubner (physiotherapist), André Keidler (physiotherapist), Ruben Stark (media/PR), Konstantin Lesnych (media/PR), Marco Nachrichtener (equipment manager), Christian Menningen (equipment manager), Sascha Engel (equipment manager )