The redeeming news for the ice hockey players of the Löwen Frankfurt came on Saturday: The PCR test results were negative, training could be resumed on the same day.
Although the players evaded the supervision of the coaching team in quarantine, they did not remain idle.
"We did a few work-outs at home, a few guys called each other and did them together," said striker Pierre Preto in an interview with the FAZ. On Sunday evening, the lions played their first game after the quarantine.
A possible training deficit in the 6: 4 home win against Lausitzer Füchse was only visible towards the end of the second and third periods. Then the forces dwindled, but the Frankfurters remained aggressively in the forward defense and saved the narrow victory. Although the Lions initially fell behind, the defensive rows found their way back to their usual security afterwards, and the storm rows scored the goals. They even courageously defended a double majority of the Lusatian foxes.
While the players worked on their physical condition in the quarantine, one of them continued to work on the squad: Sports Director Franz-David Fritzmeier. He signed Brett Breitkreuz and Nathan Burns. The Canadian Burns previously played for the Kassel Huskies, but injured himself so badly in February 2021 that he toiled for almost a year to get back on the ice. Now he has processed the cruciate ligament tear in his left knee and is ready for action again. Fritzmeier says about the access: "He has performed very well in Kassel in the last two seasons, up to his injury, and will therefore certainly bring a lot of additional, fresh energy into our team." That is needed to achieve the goal of the championship .
Pierre Preto has also been involved in all 29 games of the DEL2 main round so far.
The 22-year-old came to Frankfurt from the Adler Mannheim in the summer.
Mannheim is one of the best addresses in the youth field for young ice hockey players in Germany.
The Jungadler Mannheim performance center was founded in 1999, the year Preto was born.
The lion and eagle followers are not friendly to one another.
He himself was consistently congratulated on his move, he reports in an interview with the FAZ. There were no taunts from acquaintances or former players.
Pierre Preto takes the detour DEL2
His path in professional hockey was by no means straight up. Even before the end of his time as a youth player in Mannheim, he received his first appearances in the professional squad. However, it was not enough to make the leap into the DEL, and so Preto was given a sponsorship license. The sponsorship license allows the player to switch flexibly between two clubs. So he collected stakes in the DEL2 for Heilbronn and a few for the Adler in the DEL. It went on like this for three seasons. The career move to Frankfurt is one out of the familiar environment.
That he feels good can also be seen in the games. Preto has not yet missed a game this season. Coach Bo Subr usually uses him in the third or fourth row of attacks. The only problem with the young attacker is the effectiveness. He scored six goals and seven assists in 29 games. A reasonable, but expandable value. Despite everything, this makes him one of the best young players in the squad. Even if he is not yet a guarantee for the scorer points, the coaches and teammates Pretos can always rely on one thing: He is very busy on the ice, is agile in running and occupies the opposing defensive lines. He also rarely avoids robust checks.
Two new commitments for the winter break, a large squad with high-quality players - if everyone stays fit.
The goal of the season is clear, not only the sports director, Preto also addresses it frankly.
In any case, he subordinates his personal intentions to the success of the team: “We have a 'team-first mentality' here.
The only thing that counts is the ascent. ”A goal that has to be worked pragmatically in one's own living room day after day in the ice rink or during the quarantine - otherwise only the words remain.