DiPietro is waiting for his flight luggage
That’s why the Canada goalie can’t just rent equipment
With his kit not arriving in Davos, Team Canada goalie Michael DiPietro is doomed to watch. But does it really have to be?
1/5
Without his own helmet and skates, it would have been difficult for the three-time champion goalie Lukas Flüeler.
Marcel AllemanReporter ice hockey
So far, Connor Hughes (26) has provided the main story for the comeback of the Spengler Cup with his commitment for Team Canada. The fact that the Friborg goalie, who had made his debut for the Swiss national team before Christmas, was even called to Davos as a Swiss-Canadian dual citizen is thanks to the luggage bad luck of keeper colleague Michael DiPietro (23). His goalie equipment got stuck on the way across the Atlantic to Davos.
But why can’t DiPietro just borrow equipment from another goalie? Especially since HC Davos offered him those of Sandro Aeschlimann. Or couldn’t his team have gotten him the equipment from a hockey shop in Switzerland? Blick asked someone who should know: the three-time champion goalie and current MySports expert Lukas Flüeler (34).
Saver and catch hand are not the main problem
“The goalie equipment is made to measure for each individual goalie,” explains the long-time goalkeeper of the ZSC Lions. The main problem isn’t even, as one might assume, the pads or the catching hand, “but the helmet and the skates. With my big head, for example, I wouldn’t even fit into many helmets and couldn’t just take one off the peg.”
It’s the same with ice skates. If these are not made to measure for the goalie’s feet, they can pinch and cause pain, making you feel uncomfortable. Which would not be productive.
Equipment turned up in Amsterdam
But if the helmet and the skates fit, then it is absolutely conceivable for him to play for a game or two with someone else’s pads, even if this would be unusual. “But maybe you would be more careful for that. And with all due respect for the Spengler Cup – it’s not the seventh game of the Stanley Cup final.”
By the way, DiPietro can still do ice training. This was made possible by Dani’s hockey shop in Klosters, who offered to help and where the keeper paid a visit in person on December 26th. DiPietro had himself refitted by owner Daniel Brägger. The confidence to play with the replacement equipment was then obviously lacking for the reasons explained by Flüeler.
Nevertheless, DiPietro should still play in this Spengler Cup. Because meanwhile his own equipment has turned up in Amsterdam and is on the way to Davos.
Spengler Cup 2022 – Group Cattini
|
team |
SP |
TD |
pt |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
|
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
|
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Spengler Cup 2022 – Torriani Group
|
team |
SP |
TD |
pt |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
|
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
|
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |