Luisa Welcke and Lilli Welcke are rarely apart. The twins have travelled the hockey world, and world, together, and are an integral part of Germany's senior national team.
Luisa Welcke and Lilli Welcke are rarely apart. The twins have travelled the hockey world, and world, together, and are an integral part of Germany's senior national team.
It doesn't matter where Luisa Welcke and Lilli Welcke are, the twins are together. It's a journey that's taken the duo from Mannheim, Germany to New York at Kent School, across the border to Ridley College in St. Catherines, Ontario, to the NCAA with Maine, and a new NCAA program with Boston University this season.
Along the way, the sisters have competed for Germany's U-18 national team at World Championships in Hungary, Russia, and Austria, and with Germany's senior national team at World Championships in Denmark, Canada, and this year in Utica, New York.
"We kind of told the coaches we're a package deal," said Lilli Welcke. "We decided early on we wanted to stay together and we've stuck with it."
If it wasn't difficult enough for teammates and fans to tell the twins apart off the ice, on the ice it got even more difficult as #33 and #13 on the ice have "Welcke" and "L. Welcke" on the back of their jerseys, despite the fact both of their first names start with an "L."
"They decided the younger one is getting the letter and the older one is just getting the last name."
The age difference? Seven minutes. Older sister Luisa smiled at her age advantage.
"I guess her seven minutes got you the last name and I'm stuck with the letter," a grinning Lilli Welcke said.
"I think it's more confusing for our teammates now," said Luisa Welcke. "Because both of our first names start with an 'L' so everybody gets us mixed up even more now."
With the way the Welcke's have played at this World Championship, opponents won't be happy there are two of them. Despite the confusion at times, the Welcke's love playing together.
"It's been an awesome process to be able to play together and be on the same team, it's hard leaving home, but this way you always have a piece of home with you. We both really enjoy playing together," said Lilli Welcke.
And the cohesion between the sisters and across Germany's roster is paying off.
"Our team's playing with a lot of confidence," said Luisa Welcke. "And we're definitely performing the way we wanted to."
