Top ice hockey is getting closer, half of the DEL clubs, including the Grizzlys Wolfsburg, are now preparing for it. The corona pandemic is not ignored, but its consequences “are not in our hands,” says Charly Fliegauf, manager of the Grizzlys. Instead, the official training begins again.
After the start of the season had been postponed, the Grizzlys had postponed their usual training start date by a month, the second DEL start postponement followed (possible start on December 18), the professionals again went into short-time work. But that is over on Monday, also for the employees of the office. The grizzlies are preparing for the Magentasports Cup, which will run from November 11th to December 12th. Almost every day there is a game from one of the two groups of four. The announcement of the tournament sparked enthusiasm among the professionals who recently stayed fit in voluntary units.
It is foreseeable that the tournament games could run without fans. It is also not ruled out that the entire sporting business will be slowed down if the pandemic continues to spread exponentially. The clubs have no influence on this. It is clear to the participating clubs from Wolfsburg, Krefeld, Düsseldorf, Bremerhaven, Berlin, Munich, Mannheim and Schwenningen that spectators would be extra income that they can no longer expect for the DEL season.
Nuremberg, Cologne, Iserlohn, Augsburg, Straubing and Ingolstadt are not part of the tournament. Almost all clubs generate around 50 to 60 percent of their income from ticket sales. Without fans and without further government aid, it will be difficult for some to survive.
“If you say that we have to live with the pandemic in the medium or maybe even long-term, then professional sport has developed suitable hygiene concepts for this,” said DEL managing director Gernot Tripcke before Chancellor Angela Merkel’s summit with the Prime Minister on Wednesday. And Tripcke emphasized: “But if politics forbids spectators, it deprives professional sport of the basis for survival!”
The hygiene concepts of the active will also include corona tests – the clubs are currently tapping the options for themselves, the grizzlies are in contact with the Wolfsburg Clinic. The clubs want to agree on the standards, frequencies and common approaches on Friday. Fliegauf: “It should start with the tournament and it would also be the test run for the DEL season.”
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Pictures from the ice hockey preparation game ETC Crimmitschau – Grizzlys Wolfsbug
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Eispiraten Crimmitschau versus Grizzlys Wolfsburg.
© Andreas Kretschel
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The DEL has now developed various game plan scenarios
The season is scheduled to begin on December 18th. One model provides for a season with the usual 52 main round game days from December 18 to May 7, but without playoffs. “That is a possibility,” said Tripcke to the ice hockey news. “If we go into a season, we want to keep all of them in the game as long as possible.” According to the report, a model with fewer main round match days, but with playoffs, should not be excluded. In addition, a division into a north and south group is being considered in order to reduce travel.
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Magentasports Cup: Games of the Grizzlies
Wolfsburg – Düsseldorf (November 14th)
Krefeld – Wolfsburg (November 17th)
Wolfsburg – Bremerhaven (November 20)
Düsseldorf – Wolfsburg (November 28)
Wolfsburg – Krefeld (December 1st)
Bremerhaven – Wolfsburg (December 4th)
Finals
10/11 December: semi-finals, December 12: final
The games take place on weekdays at 7.30 p.m., Saturdays at 5 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m.
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