Kohlmüller's first big tournament

Lukas Kohlmüller, 27, from Erding, was in the USA.

At the U18 ice hockey world championship, his first major tournament, he was the only German referee.

Erding - "That was my first A tournament as main referee and a valuable experience for me," says Lukas Kohlmüller.

"And I think that as a German you can be proud to have been there, because we are more of a small ice hockey nation." The 27-year-old Erdinger was a referee at the U18 World Cup in the USA - as the only German and one of only six Europeans.

And that's not the only reason why it was a special tournament.

Due to the corona pandemic, almost all top tournaments had been canceled, including the women's world championship, which should have been held in Canada.

The U18 World Cup, which had been awarded to the Texan cities of Frisco and Plano, was allowed to take place.

Lukas Kohlmüller, who has been the main referee in the DEL since 2018, was very happy when he found out about his nomination.

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The hand on the cup: Lukas Kohlmüller presents the World Cup trophy (photo above), which the team from Canada won in the end, after a 5-3 final victory over Russia.

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"From April 14th we were in self-quarantine and had to test ourselves regularly at home, then we flew on April 19th," he says. The world association IIHF had chartered two large long-haul aircraft and had the European teams and referees fly to the USA. Kohlmüller had to go to Zurich, where the IIHF headquarters are. Then he and a couple of colleagues, the IIHF staff and the Swiss team went via Helsinki and Stockholm, where the teams from Finland and Sweden got on, to Dallas. There it was first of all three days of strict quarantine in the hotel - with food in the single rooms and daily PCR tests.

After all, the referees were at least allowed to go out to eat in the dining room, but only in four small groups. "Always three main referees and two to three linesmen, so that there are still referees if one is positive in a group," says Kohlmüller, who was in the group with four US Americans and one Czech. “On the fourth day we were finally allowed to go out on the ice,” says the 27-year-old. But not just to train, but to get used to the smaller ice surface and the external circumstances. "You have to position yourself differently on the smaller ice surface and react faster because everything goes faster and is tighter," explains Kohlmüller. “You also look: where are the doors from the players' benches, where are the cameras, where is the clock, where can you see the video evidence and so on.“The rules were also important,“ because every country has slightly different rules or a slightly different interpretation of rules. Here the international rules were presented to us again so that we can interpret them all in a uniform manner ”.

And then it got serious. Before the start of the World Cup, each team had a test game. "These games were whistled by the World Cup referees, from three main referees in the group every two-thirds," says Erdinger, who, after a day of rest, was in action at the start of the World Cup in the game Belarus against Sweden. "I had a game almost every day, so we were very busy," says Kohlmüller with a laugh. And when he wasn't on duty, he had to be on hand as a “stand-by referee” when the other two colleagues from his group whistled in case one of them was canceled at short notice. "That's how the team was always together - and time passed really quickly."

The 27-year-old will not forget “two highlight games”. On the one hand Finland against Russia (4: 3), "it went into the penalty shootout, and that was later one of the two semi-finals". And on the other hand, the quarter-finals between Sweden and the USA (5: 2). “That was my last and most difficult game in the tournament, there was a lot to do and it really got down to business. But I think we managed it well. "What was most important for him:" The teams decided the game and not the referees. "

Canada finally became world champions with a 5-3 final victory over Russia.

Sweden came in third.

The German team had to learn the hard way, losing to the Czech Republic (1: 3), USA (3: 5), Russia (1: 6) and Finland (0:10).

Luck for Germany: There was no relegation this year.

"I whistled the test match between Germany and Latvia, and you could see that it was going to be very difficult," said Kohlmüller.

In summary, the tournament was "a very interesting experience under these special circumstances", says Erdinger.

“I've never seen anything like that, where you are simply locked away for three weeks.” What he regrets: “I was in the USA for three weeks and saw nothing apart from the stadium and the hotel.

That was a shame, but actually clear from the start. "

The only German World Cup referee was enthusiastic about the level of the top teams. “It's an extremely important tournament because it's about the NHL drafts,” says Kohlmüller. “The whole grandstand was always full of NHL scouts.” What was also outstanding for him personally: the video analysis after the game. "Later on, we always looked at everything with two video coaches - really everything," says the 27-year-old. “Every offside, every foul was analyzed to see whether it was right or wrong. It was really unbelievable how the coaches dealt with it. You can't get any better feedback. ”He is sure that he will also benefit from this experience in the DEL in the future and would like to be used in a major tournament one time or another. "I hope it continues like this",says Erdinger satisfied. "But now it's summer break for the time being."