The Ice Hockey Germany Cup will be held in Krefeld for the last time this year. This was confirmed by the President of the German Ice Hockey Federation (DEB), Peter Merten.
“We’re here for the fifth time. The innovation effect is gone. We want to go to another location,” said Merten. On Thursday, there were less than 1,000 spectators in the hall during Germany’s 3-2 opening win after extra time against Denmark.
Officially, the DEB had given 1680 spectators. However, as Merten explained, a number of tickets had gone to state associations and sponsors, some of which were not used. “It’s not ideal,” Merten said of the disappointing number of spectators on Thursday.
A change of location to Munich was originally planned, where the new SAP Garden should have been ready long ago, but is still under construction. 2023 would be a transitional year in Schwenningen, for example.
“There’s a great arena there. But we really haven’t made a decision yet,” said Merten, who is hoping for significantly more spectators for the weekend in Krefeld. On Saturday (5:30 p.m./Sport1 and MagentaSport) Germany will play Austria and finally on Sunday (2:30 p.m./MagentaSport) against Slovakia.