Grizzlies Wolfsburg ice hockey goalkeeper Chet Picard has ended his career and has informed his club from the German Ice Hockey League that he will not return to his home country of Canada from Germany after the summer break, despite his contract running until 2023. .
The decision came “extremely sudden and utterly surprising,” the Wolfsburg Company said in a press release.
The 2021 DEL finalist immediately signed 36-year-old Justin Poge as a replacement from Kolner Hahn. The former junior world champion from Canada was drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2004. He later played for four Swedish clubs in Europe and Eisbahn Berlin. The Wolfsburg team signed 21-year-old Ennio Albrecht of Oberliga club Blue Devils Weiden as the third goalkeeper behind national goalkeeper Dustin Strollmeier and Poge.
“The news of the end of Chet’s career struck us like lightning. We accept such a decision, which certainly was not an easy one. The way we were informed at the end of June without any prior notice ‘That’s unacceptable to me,'” said Wolfsburg Sports Director and Managing Director Karl-Heinz Fliegoff. Poge and Albrecht’s commitments are “the best possible solution to this unpredictable goalkeeper situation”.
(dpa)
