Dangerous curiosity in the ice hockey World Cup: a large hole in the ice surface ensures an interruption – and displeasure with the German players.
NHL goalkeeper Philipp Grubauer had to take back. “Now I have to be careful what I say. Not that I still get a complaint from the World Association”, the German national goalkeeper said after the 5: 2 (2: 1, 2: 0, 1: 1) in the third World Cup preliminary round against Norway.
The ice hockey players are increasingly annoyed by the condition of the ice in the exhibition hall in Herning, Danish. The game against Norway even had to be interrupted twice due to a hole. Numerous passes did not arrive because the ice is too soft.
Grubauer demands longer third -party breaks
“In my opinion it is dangerous for the player”, Smitted the 33 -year -old Grubauer: “You can hardly play a pass. It’s like on a pond that melts.”
The goalie of the Seattle Kraken recommends the third breaks before the performance on Thursday (4:20 p.m.) “To extend for one or two minutes.
Problems with the ice again and again
It is not new that there are problems with the ice rink even with large ice hockey events. Multifunctional arenas in particular like in Herning, where the ice is not permanent, have difficulties.
20 years ago, the then World Cup host Austria had to struggle with high temperatures in the converted Vienna Stadthalle. Half a year ago there was a crack in the ice rink in Landshut, so that the Germany Cup game between Germany and Slovakia had to be interrupted after 14 seconds.
Team is annoyed
National coach Harold Kreis took the ice incidents from Herning “to note”. “We don’t stay with it for long because we don’t want to waste our energy”, the 66 -year -old coach said: “The team is annoyed. It is of course frustrating.”
NHL star Tim Stützle preferred to say nothing about the ice state. Captain Moritz Seider promised: “We make the best of it. It is the same for both teams. There are no excuses.”