This summer was different for Harold Kreis. No months of preparation, no training camp, no test matches. He had experienced all of this again and again for decades, first as a professional ice hockey player and since the late 1990s as a club coach. But now as the person in charge of the German national team it was a matter of traveling to future venues, making phone calls and making public appearances. The latter several times, because in May the selection of the German Ice Hockey Federation (DEB) reached a World Cup final for the first time in 93 years.
So award ceremonies and interviews alternated happily. “You might think I’m just out and about doing things like that,” Kreis said in a media roundtable on Tuesday. But of course he watches a lot of games and is in contact with his players and the managers from the league. After all, the 2023/24 international season is about to start, with the Germany Cup in Landshut in three weeks, the four-country tournament with Denmark, Austria and Slovakia. The DEB women are also there for the first time, playing against Denmark, Finland and the Czech Republic.
Circle feels “an enthusiasm”
These will be the men’s team’s first international matches since the exciting weeks in Finland and Latvia. In ice hockey, the calendar is tricky. When the attention is at its highest, there is no longer any ice hockey to see. The World Cup in May always marks the end of the season in Europe. Neither the DEB nor the clubs had the chance to present the “silver heroes” in the local ice rinks.
The leagues have only been running again since September, the national team’s turn in November. But of course they at DEB hope to have saved some of the enthusiasm for the World Cup into the autumn. The association says ticket sales are looking good. And national coach Kreis also feels “an enthusiasm” during his appearances.
Nevertheless, he says: “The World Cup is a thing of the past, in the next tournament we are starting from scratch.” The Germany Cup is also “not a marketing event”. After all, this is the only opportunity for Kreis to see his players up close before the upcoming World Cup in May 2024 in the Czech Republic. Here too, the ice hockey calendar shows no mercy; there are only a few international matches per year.
So for Kreis it’s about maintaining the culture in the dressing room and on the ice, but at the same time testing new players. And the selection is bigger than ever: he has “twelve defenders and seven to eight forward lines” on his list. And that doesn’t include long-standing regulars like Captain Moritz Müller. He knows what he is getting from Müller.
Of course, who won’t be there either: the North American faction around NHL superstar Leon Draisaitl. What hurts in Landshut more for marketing reasons. But the new abundance of top German players in the NHL could become a problem in the long term. Namely when they don’t even have time for the World Cup because they are in demand in the NHL play-offs that take place at the same time. And because they now earn so many millions of dollars that insurance is becoming more and more expensive.
Olympics as a crowning achievement?
The national coach is of course aware of the problem, but the NHL is so far removed from the rest of the ice hockey world that he is “happy about everyone” who “achieves a lot there themselves or with their team”. Even if they don’t come to the World Cup. Like Draisaitl, who has not been active in the national jersey since 2019. He hopes all the more that the NHL will release its players for the 2026 Olympics. “I would be very happy if we all got together at some point and played for Germany,” Draisaitl said recently.
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Kreis, who has still not met Germany’s biggest ice hockey star in person and will do so on a North American tour in January, also hopes so. His contract as national coach runs until 2026. Would the Olympics with all the stars be a crowning achievement for the 64-year-old? He doesn’t want to think that far ahead. He has already been asked about the home World Cup in 2027. But that’s not an issue at the moment, he’s just concentrating on the Germany Cup. The summer with all the honors is over, now it’s time to get to work.
