On Tuesday afternoon, national coach Toni Söderholm invited the national ice hockey team onto the ice.

The second phase of preparations for the World Cup began in Rosenheim, with two test matches against Switzerland on Thursday and Saturday.

But the problem is that the squad has only a limited connection with the man who wants to play for a medal in Finland from May 13th.

Numerous World Cup candidates are still employed by their clubs, in the German Ice Hockey League (DEL) the semi-finals only begin this Wednesday (7.30 p.m.).

The overlapping of dates between associations and leagues in ice hockey is not new, for years "one has been fighting for the times", Söderholm had told the FAZ shortly before the Olympics, so he is used to having to change his squad again and again.

After each play-off round there is a new one - depending on which club was knocked out.

This year, however, the national coach faces a particularly tricky task: Corona has caused so many games to be postponed that the DEL had to extend the season.

Even more serious: So far, no top team with a corresponding number of national players has been eliminated from the play-offs.

“Very close density with several teams at the same time”

One's sorrow is another's joy.

Because while Söderholm now has to do a large part of the World Cup preparations without various cornerstones of his team, they are looking forward to the most exciting championship race in years at the league headquarters in Neuss.

Berlin, Mannheim, Munich, Wolfsburg - all semi-finalists have legitimate claims to the title.

After all, these are the four teams with the highest budgets and the correspondingly best teams.

It is no coincidence that they were all high up after the main round.

It is no coincidence that each of the four clubs has reached the final at least twice since 2015, and with the exception of Wolfsburg, everyone has been able to celebrate.

Will the Grizzlies - championship runners-up in 2016, 2017 and 2021 - be up for it this time?

One does not know.

And that, according to Gernot Tripcke, is the “attraction” of the DEL: “that you just can’t predict who will win.

We have a very tight density with several teams at the same time," says the league boss and adds with a view to the competition: "It is definitely an advantage over the other leagues that we have several teams with a real chance of winning the title. "

History also shows this.

Since the introduction of the DEL in 1994, there have been ten different German ice hockey champions.

In football and handball there were only six each, in basketball seven.

The DEL is also the only league in which no team has ever won more than three titles in a row.

And even within a season, the gaps between ice hockey teams are smaller.

Polar bears have unlocked

It is not uncommon for a top team to lose against a relegation candidate.

The Eisbären Berlin – current champions and first in the table after the main round – even lost four home games in a row at the start of the season.

In more than 50 years of the Bundesliga, this has never happened to FC Bayern footballers.

Since then, however, the polar bears have shown a different face: most wins (36), second most goals (194), second fewest goals (139).

That was the last proof that her title win from the previous year had nothing to do with the shortened Corona season.

The Berliners have caught up with Mannheim and Munich.

When it comes to the "DEL classic" against the Adler in the semi-finals, they are even a slight favorite.

During the season, they reinforced their already strong squad of national players such as goalkeeper Mathias Niederberger or striker Marcel Noebels with top players such as Dane Frans Nielsen (almost 950 NHL games) or German talent Dominik Bokk.

The quarterfinals against the Kölner Haie were over accordingly quickly: three games, three wins, 11:2 goals.

Niederberger parried an outstanding 97.7 percent of the shots.

Eagles have caught themselves

In the semifinals against Mannheim, however, things will be much closer.

Actually, the Eagles started as the top favourites, but there was a lack of consistency due to injuries and corona cases.

There were also quarrels about coach Pavel Gross, his management style and his statements about the pandemic.

When there were three defeats in a row shortly before the end of the main round, Gross had to go and Bill Stewart took over.

And it's been going ever since: In the quarter-finals there was a 3-1 win in the series against the strong Straubing Tigers.

Just in time for the eternal duel with the polar bears, whom they have already met three times in the final, the eagles are in form.

This also applies to Munich (3:1 against Düsseldorf) and Wolfsburg (3:2 against Bremerhaven).

And they also have a common final history, that was in 2016 and 2017. At that time, Munich won.

Who's doing it now?

Nobody can predict.