Dominik Kahun strengthens the DEB team at the World Cup in Riga.
Those responsible hope that the NHL star can already intervene against the USA.
Riga - The attraction that the German national ice hockey team had longed for was finally able to get to know on Thursday when there was no game: a sand dune, 35 minutes by bus from the hotel in Riga.
The ride there with a police escort to keep the bubble up.
At a pavilion a small catering was set up in the fresh air, you could "let your mind wander", so sports director Christian Künast.
You didn't meet anyone who didn't belong to the bubble, the place of excursion was, so to speak, a restricted area.
Ice hockey world championship: mini excursion already an attraction - accommodation for DEB team "life-limiting and stressful"
Yes, that's what life is like at this ice hockey world championship * in Riga.
It is true that “spectators will be admitted from Sunday”, said Franz Reindl, German member of the council of the international association IIHF, but the rules are strict for the players.
Their lives take place: in the ice rink, on the bus, in the hotel rooms.
There is a meeting room where you can eat and where there is a table tennis table and a table football, but the stay here should be limited.
"It is life-limiting and burdens everyone," said sports director Christan Künast.
Reindl rates the fact that Dominik Kahun has now flown in from the NHL as “something new, fresh for everyday life”.
Kahun joins the national team: No contact with other players yet - first World Cup appearance against the USA?
Whereby there has not yet been direct contact between Kahun (25) and fellow players.
On the night from Monday to Tuesday, Kahun and his Edmonton Oilers were eliminated from the NHL playoffs in Winnipeg, "at five o'clock in the morning I landed in Edmonton and only had a few minutes to decide whether I wanted to go to the World Cup".
Six hours later the journey began: Edmonton - Montreal - Frankfurt - Riga.
Arrival at the hotel at 1 p.m.
The prescribed individual insulation there immediately.
Kahun had a bike brought to his room, but was "still too broken to use" on Wednesday.
If the schedule works, it could play in the game after next, Monday against the USA *.
On this day he will have the last PCR test, it will be decisive when the result is available.
Ice hockey World Cup: NHL star Kahun was happy to come - "a special team spirit"
He was happy to come because he has always kept in touch and feels that “there is a special team spirit”.
The season with Edmonton is over, and so is his contract there.
His friend Leon Draisaitl, on the other hand, is still busy answering questions after a promising season that ended in a playoff humiliation: four defeats against Winnipeg.
One is happy to have received Kahun.
There is also a need because Lukas Reichel threatens to fail after the 2: 3 against Kazakhstan.
And the quarter-finals are still not certain, a win from the games against Finland, the USA and finally on Tuesday against hosts Latvia is still necessary.
(Günter Klein) * Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.
