Fifteen cancellations, now against the Emirates: ‘Dutch ice hockey players are spoiled’

• Ronald van Dam

  editor and commentator NOS Sport

Fifteen players who canceled due to an injury or simply had no interest in a World Cup. Relegation to fourth world level. Things are not going well for the Dutch ice hockey players.

Former international Nico van Galen Last is sounding the alarm. “If you’re not careful, this will become the standard.”

“Dutch ice hockey players are a bit spoiled,” says Van Galen Last, who played 78 international matches and is currently an analyst at NOS Sport. “You get what your sport is worth and that starts with the Dutch team. That is the figurehead that must generate media attention.”

Jack de Heer, Larry van Wieren and Corky de Graauw. These are the names of Canadian ice hockey players with a Dutch passport with whom the Netherlands secured a one-off participation in the Winter Olympics in 1980. Defender Rick van Gog even achieved eternal fame with his body check on Canadian superstar Guy Lafleur in the Canadian version of Trivial.

These were the golden years of Dutch ice hockey. The Dutch team played against top countries such as Canada, Finland and the then Soviet Union. Next year’s opponents at the World Cup in division 2A will be the United Arab Emirates, Israel and Australia, not exactly ice hockey countries.

“As a fan, I would of course much prefer that we play in the Top Division,” says Jan Hopstaken. Not that the chairman of Ice Hockey Netherlands wants to downplay the setback, “but in normal circumstances we belong in 1B. Fifteen cancellations is indeed a lot. That did not help.”

Injuries, aches and pains after a long season, work, private circumstances; According to Hopstaken, there are many reasons why potential internationals have canceled the World Cup in Lithuania. “The boys who were there may have lost everything, but they didn’t lose a single match. They gave everything.”

One of the fifteen cancellations is 28-year-old attacker Reno de Hondt, who has been playing with Tilburg Trappers in the Oberliga Nord, the fourth German level, since 2015. The club from Tilburg has outgrown the Dutch competition.

“We reached the semi-finals of the play-offs with Tilburg. The long season had its impact,” De Hondt explains. “I have a daughter who is just one year old, whom I had hardly seen for eight months. Then it is nice to be with your family for a while. Hopefully I will be there again next year, I take it one year at a time.”

Another player that the Netherlands could have used is Mike Dalhuisen, who has not played for the national team since 2018. In his case as a result of a conflict with national coach Doug Mason.

“I was playing in the Kazakh league at the time, when I was called up for the World Cup,” says the 35-year-old defender, who has just started a new professional adventure with the Sidney Ice Kings in Australia. “I didn’t want to leave Kazakhstan because I was afraid of not getting my overdue salary. Mason then closed the door and I have never heard anything from the union since.”

Confronted with the large number of cancellations at the Dutch team, Dalhuisen answers: “Not wanting to take time off from work, that’s not an option for me. It should be a dream to play for the Dutch team.”

When asked whether he will ever set a good example again, Dalhuisen answers: “The association can always make a call. But there must be a good plan. Just participating in a World Cup once in a while doesn’t make much sense. Especially with the risk on injuries. I earn my living with it.”

Van Galen Last hears it, shaking his head. “If you are injured, then you are injured. But I have also played under a national coach who did not suit me. You don’t have to sleep in his bed. You listen to his instructions, go on the ice and do your best. .”

When asked how the downward spiral can be broken, says association chairman Hopstaken. “After the summer we will approach the group of forty potential internationals. Now they will receive a compensation of 150 euros per tournament. We will certainly not be able to make 2,000 euros of that. The most important question is how we can take them as seriously as possible within the possibilities to take.”

“It’s not about those few tens of money,” says Van Galen Last. “My generation did not say thank you. You just wanted to wear an orange shirt and see what you could achieve with those boys in twelve days. Today’s players have to look in the mirror and honestly ask themselves: what am I doing to help my sport further? ?”

At the World Cup in Lithuania, Hopstaken got into conversation with a young man who moved the goals when the Zamboni came to mop the ice. “It turned out that he was the last player to be dropped from the Lithuanian team. But he really wanted to do something for his country at the World Cup. He would rather move the goals than sit at home.”