The national team's anticipation for the first international match in preparation for the World Cup is growing. On Thursday evening (game starts at 19:30 p.m.) the time has come: they meet in Kassel DEB-Selection on Czech Republic. For national coach Harold Kreis, it is the first international match as head coach DEB-Selection together with assistant coach Alexander Sulzer and the newly formed coaching staff.
Since Monday, the national team has been preparing in Frankfurt for the 2023 IIHF World Championship in Finland and Latvia. In addition to getting to know each other for the first time in the cabin DEB-Selection has already completed three intensive training days with several ice sessions and is ready for the first game of the World Cup preparations in Kassel.
After the pre-game skate on Thursday morning in Frankfurt, the national team will head to North Hesse. The second match against the Czech selection will follow on Saturday afternoon. The game will start at 17 p.m. in Frankfurt.
Defender Marco Nowak: “The first impressions and the mood are positive, the group in the dressing room is having a lot of fun together. At the beginning there is always a certain amount of arriving and setting up; the training sessions on the ice with the new coaching staff were already very intensive. The focus for us in the international matches is to implement the specified system. We also keep an eye on the entire development leading up to the World Cup and want to make the games successful.”
Striker Dominik Bokk: “Since the end of the season with the Löwen Frankfurt I was able to keep fit here on site, train on the ice and thus prepare for deployment. It is an honor and an honor to be part of the national team and now to meet the boys here in the dressing room in Frankfurt. The team feels very comfortable here and is already looking forward to the start in Kassel tomorrow. For me personally it is something very special to perform in front of the Lions audience on Saturday.”
National coach Harold Kreis: “For us as a coaching staff, we are really looking forward to going into our first international matches with the team. For us it's about implementing what we discussed in the sessions on the ice. These are mainly tactical things and small accents. We will maintain the basic style of play that has been successful in the past. We face an opponent who is strong in terms of play and running and who is very well coached and we are looking forward to the two international matches in Kassel and Frankfurt.”
The last time the two teams met was in the 2022 World Cup quarter-finals – with the better end for the Czech Republic (1:4). The Czechs started their World Cup preparations last Saturday in Pilsen. The selection traveled to Frankfurt on Tuesday and completed their first ice session in the evening. The head coach is Finnish Kari Jalonen, who has been in office since March 2022. In his first tournament as the person in charge behind the boards, he won bronze at the 2022 World Cup in Finland.
The Czech squad consists of young professionals and some World Cup-experienced players, especially Michal Jordán, who is already over Has completed 100 international matches. For many of the talents, it will be about getting one of the few squad places for the 2023 World Cup tournament in the next few weeks. Some established forces are still being spared, especially since the playoffs in the domestic league are still ongoing. Apart from the well-known players who are in action in the NHL.
Tickets for all World Cup preparation games in Germany are available DEB-Ticket portal (https://www.ticket-onlineshop.com/ols/deb/) Is available.
World Cup preparation: The home schedule of the German national team
April 13.04.2023, 19 | 30:XNUMX p.m. in Kassel | Germany - Czech Republic
April 15.04.2023, 17 | 00:XNUMX p.m. in Frankfurt | Germany - Czech Republic
April 20.04.2023, 19 | 30:XNUMX p.m. in Deggendorf | Germany - Austria
April 22.04.2023, 17 | 00:XNUMX p.m. in Landshut | Germany - Austria
May 09.05.2023, 19 | 30:XNUMX p.m. in Munich | Germany - USA
All of the national team's preparatory games will be shown live and free of charge on MagentaSport: http://www.magentasport.de/aktion/deb-live.