In DEL 2, the corona pandemic calls for improvisational skills – and clubs such as EHC Freiburg are taking part.
. The DEL 2, the second German ice hockey league, tries a lot to avoid being brought to its knees by the corona pandemic. If games currently have to be postponed due to quarantine measures, new ones are scheduled quickly in order to keep the number of catch-up games low. The EHC Freiburg is fully behind the improvisation policy of the league.
“That was a different game today,” said the coach of the Dresdner Eislöwen, Rico Rossi, after the 4: 5 (1: 1, 3: 2, 0: 2) defeat of his team on Friday evening in the Freiburg Echte-Helden- Arena. The coach of the Saxons wanted to point out that this ice hockey match took place under special circumstances: “On Thursday, at 4 p.m., we learned that we were not going to Bietigheim on Friday, but to Freiburg.” Because the Steelers from Bietigheim are in quarantine due to corona cases, the DEL-2 management sent the Eislöwen to the Breisgau instead of the Enz-Neckar region at short notice. After all, the wolves from the EHC had also lost their opponent due to Corona – the Tölzer lions. “We want to accept everything and do everything so that we can continue to play ice hockey.” Rossi explained why no responsible person at Dresden had the idea on Thursday of rejecting the league’s offer to move to Freiburg.
Although EHC coach Peter Russell had to admit that he did not get to analyze the ice lions’ playing style by video until Friday morning with this Holterdiepolter schedule, the Freiburg club management immediately responded to the league’s offer, against the Dresden team instead of the Tölzer team To play: Even more: Late on Thursday evening, DEL-2 managing director René Rudorisch reported again in Freiburg and offered that the EHC could play an early game with the Frankfurt Lions on Sunday instead of in Weißwasser – the Lausitzer Füchse are also in quarantine . The EHC promptly responded to this too, although a “no” would have been accepted. “We understand that DEL 2 wants to keep the number of catch-up games as low as possible,” says EHC Chairman Werner Karlin: “A Sunday trip away to Frankfurt instead of one to Weißwasser is easier in terms of logistics than the other way around. that we would have needed three bus drivers for the much longer trip to Lausitz. ” Despite the willingness of the clubs to accept the short-term postponements of matches and travel without complaint, the DEL-2 management is planning a change in strategy to the game plan, which will be discussed with the clubs at a video conference this Monday.
One conceivable consideration is allegedly not to quarantine the entire squad in the future if some players have corona illnesses in order to comply with the DEL-2 schedule better than has been possible so far. This presupposes a concession from the health authorities, which have previously issued the quarantine measures. However, regular tests by the DEL-2 ice hockey professionals may also be a further requirement for this. According to Werner Karlin, it has been customary so far for players to be asked about symptoms by medical staff on matchday. If there are none and if no abnormalities would come to light during the ordered fever measurement, rapid tests have so far been dispensed with.
The EHC Freiburg lost on Sunday evening in the early game against the Frankfurter Löwen 4: 5 (2: 2, 0: 2, 2: 0, 0: 1) after a penalty shootout. The goals of the Freiburg in a high-class game scored Nikolas Linsenmaier, Chris Billich, Cam Spiro and Scott Allen.
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