On Thursday, August 1, 2024, the team led by U18 national coach Patrick Reimer will travel to North America. In addition to several training sessions, the DEBThe German team will play a friendly match against the Swiss Young Talents team on Sunday. On Monday, August 5, they will take to the ice to kick off the tournament against the team from Finland. The German team's other opponents in Group B are the Czech Republic and the USA - these two preliminary round matches will take place at Rogers Place, the sporting home of the Edmonton Oilers and the venue for this year's showdown for the Stanley Cup.
In addition to U18 national coach Patrick Reimer, U16 national coach Robin Beckers (assistant coach), Sebastian Osterloh (assistant coach/athletic coach) and Spencer Eckhardt (goalkeeper coach) complete the coaching team. Patrick Reimer has nominated a 25-man squad for the trip to Edmonton. Three goalkeepers, eight defenders and 14 strikers will be there when the DEB for the fourth time in total, taking part in this prestigious tournament of the Young Talents category. DEB-Sports director Christian Künast will be on site in Canada to support the team and staff.
The current squad of the U18 national team is available here.
The match schedule of the U18 national team:
05.08.2024 | 21:00 (German time) | Germany – Finland
06.08.2024 | 20:00 (German time) | Germany - Czech Republic
07.08.2024 | 23:30 (German time) | USA – Germany
09.08.2024 | Placement games/ semi-finals
10.08.2024 | Final/ Match for third place
Detailed statistics and live streams: Hlinka Gretzky Cup 2024
U18 national coach Patrick Reimer: "The Hlinka Gretzky Cup is the most prestigious invitational tournament in the world and we are lucky to be taking part again this year. I don't think I need to stress how special it will be for a young athlete and also for me as a new coach to play at Rogers Place. We will be facing really strong opponents in Finland, the Czech Republic and the USA. That will be a big challenge for us, especially so early in the season when we haven't had many training sessions together. But we are looking forward to the task and our goal is to take a first good step in terms of team building at this tournament. Above all, we want to gain some good experience that will be enormously valuable to us with a view to the next World Championship."
A detailed interview with our new U18 national coach Patrick Reimer is now available on the DEB-Youtube channel.