Also Grizzlies Bittner and Strollmeyer nominated for DEB

Wolfsburg/Schwenningen.In the nomination round for the third preliminary stage of the German national ice hockey team, only Janik Moser was appointed from the Grizzlies’ point of view. Now, as expected, two more Wolfsburg players will follow them for the fourth and final leg. As DEB announced on Thursday, national coach Tony Soderholm has now named DEB goalkeeper in Dustin Strahlmeyer and a defender in Dominic Bittner, who was also part of the German team at the Olympics. Möser also made the cut and is still part of the DEB squad.

“Now we are getting a good mix of players that will help us in terms of play as well,” explained the national coach and continued: “We were able to step-by-step increase our effectiveness and speed. In the coaching staff We are confident that our game is now at a level where we can take the next step.”

Ray Meier and Bitner were still missing in the third preliminary stage, but DEB had already announced that they were in contact with other World Cup candidates. “Some are taking a break from the playoffs, while others are recovering from injuries,” a press release said. This also applies to Autostdter.

Ray Meier gets a break, Bitner falls ill

At the end of the Grizzlies’ season, Strollmeyer and Bittner had already announced their trip to the national team. While the goalkeeper had given his promise shortly before, Bittner previously spoke about his failure in the semi-final series against EHC Munich and the fact that he was not nominated: “It hit me really badly, I Was in bed with a fever for five days and had to take antibiotics. Then Tony Soderholm contacted, I had to tell him too. But I can be there from the next step.”

DEB is preparing for the World Championships in Finland (13 to 29 May), with a final stage from 5 May to 10 May in Schwenningen. Next Sunday, 8 May (from 5pm, live on Sport1 and MagentaSport) the final preparatory game of the German selection will be against Austria. After a day off, it will depart for Helsinki, Finland on 10 May, before the first World Cup game against Canada (7:20 pm, live on Sport1 and MagentaSport) is scheduled for 13 May. Germany meets Canada, Italy, Switzerland, Slovakia, Kazakhstan, Denmark and France in the group stage. In preparation so far, the Söderholm team has already tested against the Czech Republic (2:6, 2:0), Switzerland (4:2, 1:6) and Slovakia (1:3, 2:3).

by Marvin Soneman