This will be the fourth straight year the Germans have competed at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup and last year they got their first win in the game for seventh place against Slovakia. They will again be underdogs but they seem to relish the role.

“The Hlinka Gretzky Cup is the most prestigious invitational tournament in the world and we are lucky to be taking part again this year,” said head coach Patrick Reimer. “I don’t think I need to stress how special it will be for a young athlete and also for me as a new coach to play at Rogers Place. 

“We will face really strong opponents in Finland, Czechia and the USA. That will be a big challenge for us, especially so early in the season when we haven’t had many practises together. But we are looking forward to the task and our goal is to take a first good step in terms of team building at this tournament. Above all, we want to gain good experience that will be enormously valuable to us with a view to the next World Championship.”

This team features several returnees, including the top two scorers at last year’s IIHF U18 World Championship Division I Group A – Dustin Willhöft and David Lewandowski. The highest-rated prospect on this German team, Lewandowski might have a chance to play in the DEL this season with Düsseldorf.

Goaltenders (3): 1 Aaron Kaiser (Red Bull Salzburg, AUT), 29 Nikita Kluev (New Jersey Rockets, USA), 30 Lukas Stuhrmann (Kölner Haie).

Defensemen (8): 2 Felix Krüger (ESC Dresden), 6 Moritz Warnecke (Red Bull Salzburg, AUT), 7 Carlos Händel (Malmö Redhawks, SWE), 12 Max Bleicher (EV Füssen), 13 Cedrik Wijacki (Red Bull Salzburg, AUT), 14 Noah Smith (Seacoast Performance Academy, USA), 20 Fabio Kose (EV Regensburg), 21 Niclas Hempel (EHC Freiburg).

Forwards (14): 3 Nikita Kessler (Red Bull Salzburg, AUT), 8 Sebastian Zwickl (Starbulls Rosenheim), 10 Maxim Schäfer (Eisbären Berlin), 15 Elias Schneider (Eisbären Berlin), 16 Timo Kose (EV Regensburg), 18 Stanislav Kronhardt (Düsseldorfer EG), 19 Dustin Willhöft (Adler Mannheim), 20 Mateu Späth (Kölner Haie), 22 David Lewandowski (Düsseldorfer EG), 23 Max Ziergiebel (Kölner Haie), 24 Tobin Brandt (Kölner Haie), 25 Andreas Grin (ERC Ingolstadt), 27 Rihards Griva (Adler Mannheim), 28 Gustavs Griva (Adler Mannheim).