At the World Cup, the German ice hockey women came sixth after a historically good preliminary round. A success, because the conditions are still poor.
The German Laura Kluge (white jersey) trying to score against Switzerland Photo: imago
At the end of the World Cup there were two defeats, but Daria Gleißner, captain of the German women’s national ice hockey team, still managed to see the good. Despite all the disappointment, it was “the right step that we took for German women’s ice hockey,” said the 30-year-old from German champions ECDC Memmingen.
While the giants USA and Canada qualified for the World Cup final at the tournament in Utica, New York, on Saturday, which took place on Sunday after the editorial deadline, Gleißner and her teammates lost the game for fifth place against Switzerland 2:3 after extension. Previously, they lost the quarter-finals against the Czech Republic 0-1, and before that they finished the preliminary round in Group B with four confident victories in first place and earned the title “historic”. Because they’ve never been able to do that before.
And the conditions in Germany remain poor. There is a women’s Bundesliga with seven teams. However, no German club has an all-female youth team because there aren’t enough girls playing ice hockey. That’s why you have to join in with the boys. After the U17 at the latest, things get tight for the girls in the male teams due to the different physical development.
Girls who want to get ahead need to look for other options. You can try to join a Bundesliga team directly. Or they emigrate early, preferably to North America, where women’s ice hockey takes place in the shadow of men’s sports, but at a much higher level. There are a total of six players on the German national team who are active in the USA and Canada, in college teams or Canadian sports boarding schools.
Fantastic professional league in the USA
Goalkeeper Sandra Abstreiter is the only German under contract in the new women’s professional league; she plays for Ottawa, one of the six teams in the PHWL. The league, founded in 2023 and financed by billionaire Mark Walter, owner of the LA Dodgers baseball club, offers conditions that players cannot find anywhere else: salaries between $35,000 and $80,000 per season, a collective bargaining agreement, health insurance and pension provision. Like the men’s NHL, only in a small format. Ice hockey girls all over the world can dream, just like boys, of being drafted – and having great careers.
In Germany, the players are fighting primarily for greater attention. It helps them that women’s national teams have also been taking part in the Germany Cup since last year. And there may be a German double home World Cup in 2027. The association has already received approval for the men’s tournament and would like to host the women’s World Cup beforehand. The decision will be made in May.
There is also repeated talk of obliging the 14 DEL teams to also field women’s teams. Perhaps the topic will be reignited after the promising performances of the German ice hockey players in Utica.
2024-04-14 18:27:50
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