Berlin – The players celebrated their first German Cup triumph in six years, and national coach Toni Söderholm gained important insights for his Olympic team. But the dispute in the association continues to cause unrest in German ice hockey: President Franz Reindl attacked the opposition head-on.
After the 4: 1 (2: 0, 1: 1, 1: 0) at the end of the home tournament in Krefeld against Slovakia, the national team held the trophy for the first time since 2015 and made the last casting 82 days before the winter games in Beijing In-house advertising. The Berlin Leo Pföderl had brought the selection of the German Ice Hockey Federation (DEB) in front of only 2309 spectators after 14 seconds. Sweden legionnaire Tobias Rieder increased in the sixth minute. Samuel Bucek then shortened for the Slovaks, but then met Dominik Bittner from Wolfsburg and again Rieder, who scored his fourth tournament goal.
Söderholm is spoiled for choice
But more than a third of this team will probably not appear in China alongside the NHL stars Leon Draisaitl, Philipp Grubauer and Moritz Seider. The national coach is using the Germany Cup this year to test some wobbly candidates for the upcoming major tournaments next year at the Olympics in Beijing in February and the World Cup in Helsinki in May. Now Söderholm is spoiled for choice for the Olympic Games (February 4th to 20th, 2022).
Wolfsburg goalkeeper Dustin Strahlmeier, who defended all 28 shots in the 3-0 win against Switzerland and also held the victory against Slovakia, the World Cup defenders Marco Nowak and Fabio Wagner as well as the Pyeongchang silver heroes Marcel Noebels and scored positive points in Krefeld Leo Pföderl from Eisbären Berlin.
DEB President Reindl attacks his opponents
Above all, however, the Swedish legionnaire Tobias Rieder convinced, who not only underlined his defensive qualities, but also scored the winning goals in the 4: 3 against Russia and Switzerland. Against the Slovaks, the former NHL striker scored twice, Pföderl was successful for the third time within the Germany Cup. “It’s impressive how the boys fight for each other,” said Söderholm, who is primarily looking for players for certain roles: “You have certain pieces of the puzzle, they all have to fit in somewhere.”
DEB President Reindl, who sharply attacked his internal opponents on the MagentaSport microphone, made people sit up and take notice. “There are two or three people who don’t want to be cleared up, but want to be destroyed,” said the president, who has come under fire from several regional associations for his work as a paid managing director of a DEB subsidiary, “I don’t know where he came from Hatred is coming. “
The 66-year-old, who failed in the election as president of the world association IIHF in September, indicated that he wanted to continue as head of the German Ice Hockey Federation (DEB): “The blows motivate me more.” The association’s internal noise has consequences : “That burdens us all and affects the German ice hockey sport.”
Söderholm is still considering extending his contract
Successful coach Söderholm has not yet decided whether he will extend his contract, which will expire next year. Sports director Christian Künast wants “this topic off the table” “promptly” and has set a deadline: “It has to be clarified” by the World Cup in Finland (May 13-29, 2022).
In any case, the vaccination question has been clarified: All players who are supposed to play in Beijing “will be vaccinated by that time,” emphasized Künast. Because of the quarantine regulations, the DEB had announced that it would not take any unvaccinated people to the Olympics.