Players and staff from the German women's national ice hockey team were in quarantine in their hotel rooms for five days. On Monday, August 16, 2021, at 6 a.m. local time, the good news came: All corona tests carried out were negative and players and supervisors were allowed to leave isolation.
In the morning, the bus took them straight to the ice rink at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary (Alberta, Canada). The ice surface is smaller and much faster than many ice rinks in Germany - so over the next few days, the players will have to get used to it, familiarize themselves with the ice and continue to strengthen their teamwork. On Monday, the team moved into their changing room and set up their equipment, and then the first ice training session, followed by a cool down, was scheduled for 12:30 p.m. to 14:30 p.m.
Striker Theresa Wagner: “The first ice session was very intense. It was just nice to finally be able to train with the entire team again after individual isolation.”
We then took the bus back to the hotel, where the team met for a team meeting - no longer virtual, but together in the team room.
World Cup dress rehearsal against Denmark on Tuesday
The team around national coach Tom Schädler doesn't have much training time - the first and only test match against Denmark is scheduled for Wednesday, August 18, 2021 at 14 p.m. (local time, 22 p.m. German time). The Danes are also group opponents of the Germans in the tournament (Group B: Germany, Japan, Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary).
Women’s national coach Thomas Schädler: "After not having had ice under our feet for over a week, we were happy to finally get started. During the quarantine, we did a lot of online workouts, which of course can't replace ice training. That's why everything was a bit rusty at the beginning, especially since we had to get used to the small ice surface. Overall, I'm very happy with our first ice session. We're now looking further ahead and want to take the next step today so that we start the tournament optimally prepared."
The first game of the IIHF Women's World Championship for the German team will be on Saturday, August 21, 2021, at 12 p.m. (local time, 20 p.m. German time).
The start of the World Cup is against the team from Hungary. Other group opponents are Denmark (August 23, 12 p.m. local time, 20 p.m. German time), the Czech Republic (August 25, 16 p.m., 0 a.m. German time+1) and Japan (August 26, 19.30:3 p.m., 30:1 a.m.). German time +XNUMX).
Anne Bartsch breaks her hand during training
Unfortunately, there is also some unpleasant news from Calgary: Anne Bartsch was injured during training when she tried to block a shot. Diagnosis: hand fracture. Bartsch will travel home from Calgary tomorrow, Wednesday, August 18.08.2021, XNUMX. We wish you a good and, above all, a quick recovery.
Additional information
Schedule of the German women's national ice hockey team https://www.deb-online.de/team/frauen-nationalmannschaft/