Para ice hockey: Ice sleds in the trade fair halls

Even though REHACARE doesn’t have an ice hockey rink, observant visitors can still spot several national players of the fastest team sport in the world, namely para ice hockey (formerly known as IPC ice sledge hockey) at the Sports Center. That’s reason enough to take a closer look at this fast-paced sport.

Christian Jaster is a perfect contact person for this: he is a German national player, a player for the league’s third-placed team SG NRW (gaming community Kamen, Wiehl, and Cologne) and penalty king of the past championship season. He is also the Chairman of the Para Ice Hockey Division.

Jaster lost his leg in a 2007 accident. Even though the DEG (Düsseldorf Ice Skating Club) fan could barely – despite his keen interest in ice hockey since childhood - stand on ice skates with two legs, he still tried out for the DEG and failed. "I desperately wanted to play sports after my accident." While the tall athlete was a handball goalkeeper prior to his accident, he returned to the ice due to a lack of handball alternatives for people with disabilities at the time.

Para ice hockey doesn’t drastically differ from conventional ice hockey. However, players don’t move on ice hockey skates and use a sled instead since most of them have physical impairments in the lower part of their bodies. At the national level, people without disabilities are also allowed to play para ice hockey. Athletes use two short sticks with spike ends to push off the ice. A period lasts 15 minutes.

There are currently four teams in Germany that duke out the championship amongst themselves on tournament weekends. Aside from the North Rhine-Westphalian gaming community, this includes the teams from Dresden, Bremen and the champions from Langenhagen (in Lower Saxony). 

Even though there are a limited number of teams, there is no better sport in the national player’s eyes. "While some spectators may think it just looks like ten players are madly dashing across the ice, the game is all about tactics. If you have a bird’s eye view of the game, you notice the different paths, the position changes or how the players defend their position. We like to say that ice hockey is like playing chess. Of course, we can also get real tough on the ice, only to meet for a beer after the game," the player from Düsseldorf explains. He adds that this is not considered a lack of fairness in ice hockey. This game actually requires a certain amount of physical roughness.

That being said, Jaster was not happy about the previous season. He is displeased with his own performance as well as the performance of his team and the national team. After all, the German team is currently worried about whether it will be able to participate in the 2018 Paralympics. A qualifying tournament will be held in Östersund in Sweden from October 9 to 14, where the remaining three contestants will be determined. Germany is one of the participants. Its rivals include Sweden, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Japan.

This will be an "all-play-all" tournament, and the player expects "the most exciting tournament we have ever played because any team can actually beat the other teams." If the team of national trainer Andreas Pokorny doesn’t want to miss out again on the opportunity to qualify as they did back in April and get their chance at participating in the Paralympics for the second time, they have to score more goals this time around.

"The overall performance as a team was simply abysmal. When you only score two goals in the entire tournament, you don’t need to beat around the bush: that’s just not enough," Jaster still struggles with his team’s seventh-place finish at the World Para Ice Hockey Championships in South Korea. And although training conditions were less than ideal due to melting ice rinks at the respective ice arenas over the summer, "we are absolutely convinced that we will secure our ticket."

Between training sessions, training tournaments and qualification tournaments for the Paralympics, Jaster and several of his teammates have taken the time to introduce their sport at REHACARE. "We want to present our sport of course and increase public awareness for the sport. Many actually don’t even know that this type of sport exists. Needless to say, we also hope to motivate new talent to join us. Para ice hockey is a wonderful team sport that vastly improves coordination," says the man from Düsseldorf.

Interested trade fair visitors can try out goal wall shooting and ride on an ice sled at the Sports Center in Hall 7a.