“You can tell that the players have the goal in mind of being at the World Cup. That's how it should be, everyone followed along very well," said the U20 national coach after the first course of the new season, in which the title fights in Edmonton and Red Deer (December 26, 2021 to January 5, 2022) already took up a certain amount of space: “It can also play a role in decision-making. The first impression is always important. You can see how motivated a player is, what attitude he brings, how hard he worked in the summer. These are things that can tip the scales.”
Basically, however, no player fell short of expectations, as the coach of the U20 national team received "the hoped-for insights" and, after five days with six ice sessions and an extensive scientific study test day, registered "all in all a good package to gain good impressions." Simon Stowasser (Bremerhaven) and Florian Elias (Mannheim), who both had school work to complete, were not there.
Ten players from the squad for the measure in Füssen were part of the squad at the last World Cup, and Abstreiter also took a close look at the newcomers in the U20. “I saw that some new guys are at a good level. But the decisive factor is the development, the match practice that each individual gets, how hard each individual works on themselves,” said the coach.
The test exercises as part of the... DEB-Study project with the Goethe University Frankfurt. The aim of the performance reviews was to obtain practical insights into topics such as speed of action and responsiveness using standardized, complex specifications. "It went well. The process was identical to that of the women’s national team, where these tests had already been carried out on and off the ice,” said Karl Schwarzenbrunner. The national trainer for science and training explained that as a result of the tests, “special training plans” would be created, which should then bring about an increase.
Abstreiter was also very impressed by this largest study project to date at the Deutscher Eishockey-Bund, which has been running for two years and has been implemented for several months. “I think it's great when we include these things in the training program, and even if it's a few percent, it might be just the percentage points we need,” he said DEB-Coach out. From the 50-year-old's point of view, this project is “a completely new path that can be really very interesting. The players were very open to this and participated with concentration.”
The U20 Abstreiter will gather again in Füssen in just under four weeks when the next course takes place, the focus of which will then be the Summer Challenge. The four-nation tournament with the DEBteam as well as teams from the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Denmark is scheduled for July 27th to 31st. “It would be nice if that worked,” emphasized Abstreiter, who, due to the corona pandemic, “is still cautious about what can happen in a few weeks.” Nevertheless, the long-term planning of the World Cup preparations naturally also includes competitions to determine where we are .
Photos: Jana Mooslechner