The Ice Hockey World Championship for U23 juniors starts next Saturday (April 2022, 18) in Landshut and Kaufbeuren. In the first game in the Fanatec Arena in Landshut, host Germany welcomes the Czech Republic team (15:30 p.m., live on SpradeTV). The tournament begins an hour beforehand with the Swiss duel against Finland (14:30 p.m., live on SpradeTV) in the Natural Gas Schwaben Arena in Kaufbeuren.
U18 national coach Alexander Dück nominated three goalkeepers, eight defenders and fourteen strikers for the tournament. The Nuremberg Roman Kechter © and local hero Veit Oswald (EV Landshut) and Niklas Hübner (ERC Ingolstadt) certainly.
The oldest player in the squad is Till Michel from Augsburger EV (18 years old since January 01.01.2022st, 16), the youngest player is Edvin Tropmann (05.10 years old until October 6th) from KEC “Die Haie”. The Salzburg Red Bull Hockey Academy provides the most players (XNUMX). Five of the players in the squad played games in the German Ice Hockey League (PENNY DEL) last season.
The coaching team consists of U18 national coach Alexander Dück, his assistants Tobias Abstreiter (U20 national coach) and Boris Blank (assistant coach Krefeld Pinguine) and goalkeeping coach Sinisa Martinovic.
Franz Reindl, DEB-President: “The 2022 IIHF U18 World Championship is on its way to becoming an international young talent premium event. The event in Germany is an award for the importance of ice hockey and the work of young talent. It offers the best talents the platform to compete and lets us all see the requirement profile for the future. I’m really looking forward to this week in Landshut and Kaufbeuren.”
Christian Künast, DEB-Sports Director: “We are looking forward to a top-class tournament with a top line-up in two beautiful stadiums. The traditional ice hockey locations of Landshut and Kaufbeuren are looking forward to exciting young talent ice hockey. It is an honor for us to host the U18 World Cup. This will be a showcase of top talent worldwide.”
Alexander Dück, DEB-U18 national coach: “We prepared in two phases, each with nine training sessions. The first phase in particular was very intensive with hard work, especially to get a feel for the World Cup, especially how fast and exhausting the whole thing will be. The players gave everything, which is why we were spoiled for choice when it came to naming the squad. On Wednesday we moved from Füssen to Landshut and were able to visit the dressing room for the first time, where some of the players were really amazed. It's a very nice stadium and you can immediately feel a real ice hockey atmosphere. We’re really excited to get started now.”