Ice hockey captain Julia Zorn: a draft horse for the German World Cup squad

The term “draft horse” is usually used figuratively in German. In 99 percent of the cases, it is not about the horse that transports something or a person from one place to another by the power of its might. Rather, we are talking about a person who, simply because of their individual personalities, draws attention to special events, parties, sports or teams.

Together with Julia Zorn, the captain of the German national ice hockey team, we are dealing with a different kind of personality. Of course, she is certainly one of the most famous, if not the most famous active players for women in ice hockey. However, women’s ice hockey in Germany dominates many other sports.

This is the reason why the 31-year-old’s name is not known to everyone even among ice hockey fans. And despite the fact that the number 8 of the national team has already completed more than 200 international games, participated in eight world championships and the 2014 Olympic Games.

Zorn comes from the offspring of the Wanderers Germering and is an all-rounder who only exists once. She started as a goalkeeper at German record champions ESC Planegg-Würmtal in 2003 and then went by storm, but ten years earlier. As an attacker, he has so far scored 50 goals in the national jersey. So this does not mean that she will hide only in the storms of the fourth row. opposite of this.

In the only test match for the World Cup in Calgary last Wednesday, Zorn scored a goal and decided the game against Denmark, one of the main competitors in the fight for the quarter-finals, in a shootout in favor of the DEB team.

Contact Tracking & Location Wristbands

The captain leads. The same will happen in the opening match of the World Cup tomorrow against recently promoted Hungary (8 pm, live on www.thefan.fm). Runs, fights and shoots on behalf of the Bavarian team. She pays a lot of attention to her work equipment, especially her ice skates. The small ice rink played at the Ice Rink in the Olympic Park of the 1988 Olympic Games suits him. “It makes the game faster and definitely more fun,” says Zorn after the first training units and initial match experience.

It takes some time to get used to the local conditions of Calgary. Other than hotel rooms and ice rinks, the largest city in the Canadian province of Alberta sees nothing for women. And so that they stick to all the rules, they wear wristbands for contact tracking and location. “It’s normal for us athletes. Because of the anti-doping rules, we are almost ‘naked’ from the world.” After stressful days, weeks and months, Julia Zorn is happy to be there and start the World Cup.

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The new German champions suffered three years of setbacks before the World Cup was postponed from April to August. And it was mainly thanks to his fighting spirit that it continued. Kathryn Lehmann, 41, her teammate at Playnag, said after winning the championship: “Without Julia Zorn, this wouldn’t have continued anyway.”

She points to the fact that it was anger that brought all the teams and the German Ice Hockey Federation (DEB) to a table in the autumn when, due to the pandemic, only professional and top athletes were allowed to continue training and playing. permission was granted. Created the necessary conditions and thus marked the beginning of the continuation of the German Women’s Ice Hockey League (DFEL).

After a setback, he had to stop for a long time, but he fought back and contributed a goal in the final tournament to win the championship. She just can’t move along and get attention.

Julia Zorn has been a driving force for German ice hockey, especially in the last year, and has taken many people away from it. He worked tirelessly, not only on the ice. But there it is counted from Saturday. So that we can take another small step forward.