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WJC: 2021 Germany Roster Talk

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The eight players infected with coronavirus are doing well, Künast says. "The symptoms are only mild, one might feel listless at times, another might have a scratchy throat, although that may also be due to the air conditioning systems running constantly in North America." The general progression of the disease is quite harmless overall, he said, with some players even showing no symptoms at all. The players are thoroughly examined every day: temperature, blood pressure, pulse, heart rate - everything is tested. It's an all-round care, says Künast.

But how did the players get infected? Künast says that precautions at the Füssen training camp had been even stricter than those in place at Deutschland Cup. The players had to arrive in Füssen on Dec 6 carrying a negative test no more than 48 hours old, immediately after which an additional rapid test was carried out. Masks had always been worn in the dressing room. The last mandatory test was performed on Friday before departure, followed by another rapid test on Saturday - all coming back negative.

Then, however, came the surprise: Upon arrival at Edmonton Airport, there were already three positive tests. Five more followed. Künast's explanation: "It must have been carried by a player who had always tested negative before." In other words, a player whose tests had always been negative had brought the virus with him into the bubble and the disease had broken out afterwards - on the bus or during the flight. He said he himself had also experienced an eleven-day period from probable infection to outbreak when he was infected.

The team remains quarantined until Dec 23; this will be lifted from the 24th. Depending on permission by doctors and health department, Künast expects "22 of 25 players on the ice - maybe only 20." But he also clarifies: "Nobody will be forced to play. Health comes first."
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Coronainfektionen bei U20: Offenbar brachte Spieler Virus in Bubble, Krankheit brach aber nach zahlreichen negativen Tests erst während Reise aus
 
Another small sitrep.

19 of the 25 players of the German U20 national team remain quarantined until Dec 24. "That is when most of them will be allowed out again," interim sports director Christian Künast explained at an online press conference on Sunday. In the meantime, the players work out twice a day in their Edmonton hotel rooms. Only the six players who had contracted coronavirus during the IIHF-mandated 90-day period between the start of September and the end of November are permitted additional daily on-ice practice sessions at Rogers Place.

The two planned exhibition games against Austria and the Czech Republic have been called off. Far from ideal conditions then preparing for the WJHC, which will see the DEB team in action first on Saturday night with their opening game against Finland. It remains difficult for national U20 coach Tobias Abstreiter to estimate how many of his 25 players will be available by then. "I expect to start with 15 players and two goalies," Abstreiter stated at the conference whilst also pointing out that "at this moment, the eight players who tested positive are also not scheduled to take part in any practice session".

"Symptoms so far have been relatively minor. On the whole, everyone is in good shape. If it continues like this, then we have got off relatively lightly," Künast told us, spreading hope that these players might still be able to rejoin the team over the course of the tournament. However, Künast also made clear that this would not happen overnight: "If a player has shown no symptoms for seven days, he then needs to pass the return-to-play protocol. This involves the kids being thoroughly examined by the doctors. However, our coaching staff will still look at each case individually to decide when to let someone back into training and gameplay once the all-clear has been given."

Amongst the "15 players plus two goalkeepers", meanwhile, is Tim Stützle. "Tim will take over the captaincy. He wants to lead the way," Abstreiter already confirmed on Sunday. The 18-year-old Adler Mannheim forward, whose near future likely lies in the NHL with the Ottawa Senators, showed his gratitude: "Of course it's a huge honour for me. To lead the team is a wonderful feeling. I'm trying to move forward with a positive attitude."

Deutsche U20 hofft mit 15 Spielern und zwei Torhütern ab Donnerstag finale WM-Vorbereitung aufnehmen zu können – Stützle Kapitän
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What’s really tough for Germany is that not only are they not getting on the ice until the day before the tournament, and they are doing so with a tremendously short handed lineup, but here’s the kicker; They start with back-to-back games on the 25th and 26th vs Finland and then Canada! Yikes!

As rough as that sounds, it is still is probably preferential as it means they will have their two most important and winnable games towards the end of the prelim round when they start getting players back. Also good to hear Steutzle is stepping up in a leadership role. He should get a TON of ice time now.
 
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The names of the 8 players have been released, 'in accordance with and at the request of the team.'

G Florian Bugl
D Lucas Flade
D Niklas Länger
D Maksymilian Szuber
F Jan Nijenhuis
F Filip Reisnecker
F Joshua Samanski
F Markus Schweiger
 
Why is Mortits Seider not on the team? Participating the training camp in NHL? And what about Lucas Reichel?
Can any of the eight players with covid-participate at the first match against Finland?
 
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IceHockeyDude said:
Why is Mortits Seider not on the team? Participating the training camp in NHL?
Can any of the eight players with covid-participate at the first match against Finland?
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Seider turned down the invitation. He is havig a big debut season in the SHL with 12 points in 17 games.

My understanding of the situation with the quarantined players is that they are out for the first couple of games.
 
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Statsy said:
Seider turned down the invitation. He is havig a big debut season in the SHL with 12 points in 17 games.

My understanding of the situation with the quarantined players is that they are out for the first couple of games.
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That's a surprising decision. I gues the club-team management had a big influence on that.
 
IceHockeyDude said:
Why is Mortits Seider not on the team? Participating the training camp in NHL? And what about Lucas Reichel?
Can any of the eight players with covid-participate at the first match against Finland?
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Did you see the Dach injury? Maybe some teams, who have guys expected in their lineups, might want to keep their guys out?
 
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IceHockeyDude said:
That's a surprising decision. I gues the club-team management had a big influence on that.
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It’s hard to get the full story on player/team refusals, but in the end it doesn’t matter. Missing is missing and the German team will have to soldier on without him. Would’ve been great to see him play though.
 
Statsy said:
Seider turned down the invitation. He is havig a big debut season in the SHL with 12 points in 17 games.

My understanding of the situation with the quarantined players is that they are out for the first couple of games.
Click to expand...

I expect at least some of the quarantined players to play against Finland. The quarantine of the team should be lifted today, so probably depends on whether they are already healthy and negatively tested. But otherwise they would have just 5 D-men and 10 forwards, they need at least some of them to play.
 
BigBadBoar said:
I expect at least some of the quarantined players to play against Finland. The quarantine of the team should be lifted today, so probably depends on whether they are already healthy and negatively tested. But otherwise they would have just 5 D-men and 10 forwards, they need at least some of them to play.
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I really hope you are correct, for the sake of the players. Plus it’s a back-to-back vs Finland and Canada on the first two days of the tournament! Ay, Caramba!
 

one additional player on Team Germany tested positive for COVID-19 since the last update and must remain in quarantine until at least 4th January
 
So Germany will only have 16 players available for the first two games. I don't understand why the didn't change the schedule because playing back-to-back games with (I suppose) 14 skaters is absolutely crazy and makes no sense to even play such games. They could as well stay in their rooms and let their opponents win by default. I understand the situation is difficult but would it really be such problem to switch the game schedule a little bit? Especially given that they surely knew this at least a week ago.
 
BigBadBoar said:
So Germany will only have 16 players available for the first two games. I don't understand why the didn't change the schedule because playing back-to-back games with (I suppose) 14 skaters is absolutely crazy and makes no sense to even play such games. They could as well stay in their rooms and let their opponents win by default. I understand the situation is difficult but would it really be such problem to switch the game schedule a little bit? Especially given that they surely knew this at least a week ago.
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It probably sets a bad precedent leading to teams requesting schedule changes all over the place. However, this is also the one event where it would work considering you don’t have to worry about screwing over a bunch of fans with tickets to the game.
 
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The ninth player out is F Jakub Borzecki. This leaves 9 F, 5 D and 2 G for the Finland game today.

Some more mutterings from the past 24 hours,
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An upset has become less likely against both the Finns and tournament host Canada the following day, so now the focus lies even more on the duels with Slovakia and Switzerland. "We will take the two games against Finland and Canada as good practice in tournament conditions," Abstreiter emphasized, "we also want to use these games to prepare ourselves in the best possible way for the matches against Slovakia and Switzerland."

It can't be said when and if the roster will be back at full strength. The only thing that is clear is that the health of the players is paramount. "This is of the highest priority, we are not going to risk anything at the expense of the health of one of our players," Abstreiter clarified, whilst Künast referred to the clear regulations for a possible return to play. "If someone," the DEB sporting director explained, "shows no symptoms for seven days, and we have already got a few of these cases by now, they then need to pass through the return-to-play protocol. This is taking two days during which they're being thoroughly examined. And if we get the okay from all of the organizer's doctors, then the next step will be for our own medical department and also for our coaching staff to form a decision on whether or not it makes any sense."

Needless to say, it would be nice if the majority of affected players were given the medical go-ahead for a chance to present themselves on the World Cup stage. This would at least give the German U20 team the chance to hint at what might have been possible under normal circumstances. "We have got some very good players in our roster, as the NHL draft has shown," Abstreiter said, "and there are more good ones coming up."

Harte Prüfung vor besonderer U20-WM: „Wovon wir jetzt schon profitieren, das ist der gute Charakter und Zusammenhalt“ | Deutscher Eishockey-Bund e.V.
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So let' see, the players available vs. Finland and Canada are:

G Arno Tiefensee
G Jonas Gähr
D Simon Gnyp
D Steven Raabe
D Maximilian Glötzl
D Mario Zimmermann
D Jan Münzenberger
F Florian Elias
F Tim Stützle
F Julian Chrobot
F Justin Volek
F Jan-Luca Schumacher
F Samuel Dube
F John Peterka
F Enrico Henriquez-Morales
F Manuel Alberg

Then 3 of the of the following 8 players (I don't know which ones) will become available (if everything goes well) for the game vs. Slovakia, and the other 5 will be allowed to leave quarantine in time for the game vs. Switzerland (again if all goes well)
G Florian Bugl
D Lucas Flade
D Niklas Länger
D Maksymilian Szuber
F Jan Nijenhuis
F Filip Reisnecker
F Joshua Samanski
F Markus Schweiger

Borzecki will have to remain quarantined until Jan 4 and will only get to play if the team somehow makes the semifinal (so he is de facto out for the tournament).
F Jakub Borzecki

At least that's how I understand the information given here:
IIHF - Update on World Junior Championship test results(
 
5-3 against Finland, without Reichel and Seider, shorthanded and without proper preparations. What this year could have been...
 
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IceHockeyDude said:
Why is Mortits Seider not on the team? Participating the training camp in NHL? And what about Lucas Reichel?
Can any of the eight players with covid-participate at the first match against Finland?
Click to expand...

The Red Wings didn't give permission for Seider to go because they wanted him to stay in Sweden and he accepted their decision.

Reichel tested positive for Covid shortly before the flight to Canada and wasn't taken with the team.
 
RainyCityHockey said:
The Red Wings didn't give permission for Seider to go because they wanted him to stay in Sweden and he accepted their decision.

Reichel tested positive for Covid shortly before the flight to Canada and wasn't taken with the team.
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One of Detroit's AGM already said they left the decision up to Seider. He decided himself not to go, which is completely reasonable. If he decided to go, he misses nearly 2 months of SHL play for 5 or 6 games against lower competition.
 
Interisting that those scored the Goals the Game or had the most Points who was high to Pick in the Draft. The biggest Problem on the German Roster is quality Depth beside those who get Drafted
 
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