Puck instead of ball: The Hertha stars Kevin-Prince Boateng (left) and Marc Kempf pose in jerseys from the NHL club Photo: City-Press GmbH
Von Paul Gorgas
From grass to ice! On Thursday evening, the Hertha professionals left the IMG Academy’s Florida training camp in Bradenton for Tampa.
There the footballers visited their ice hockey colleagues from the NHL team and three-time Stanley Cup winner Tampa Bay Lightning for the home game against the Vancouver Canucks (5:4).
Swapping jerseys: NHL professional Victor Hedman (centre) with Hertha starters Marc Kempf (left) and Kevin-Prince Boateng Photo: City-Press GmbH
They met before the game Hertha-Stars Kevin-Prince Boateng (35) and Marc Kemp (27) with Lightning defender Victor Hedman (32) in the dressing room, posed for photos with the Swede and exchanged jerseys.
Good mood in ice hockey: Hertha keeper Oliver Christensen (right) and midfield leader Lucas Tousart saw the Lightning victory in the hall Photo: City-Press GmbH
In a warm-up hall, Boateng and Kempf then dared to go onto the ice for a moment and stood ready for photos with ice hockey sticks and pucks.
But they preferred to leave the game in the Amelie Arena to the Tampa athletes – and that was tough.
The coaching team around goalkeeping coach Andreas Menger (left to right), assistant coach Volkan Bulut, head coach Sandro Schwarz, striker coach Vedad Ibisevic and assistant coach Tamas Bodog in the stands in the Amelie Arena Photo: City-Press GmbH
The Hertha delegation, who also followed the coaching team with the head coach, from the stands Sandro Black (44) and the management around Sport-Boss Fred Bobic (51) listened as Tampa fell behind, turned the game and then shook to the end.
After conceding two late goals in the third period, Lightning-Keeper held onto the win at the last second.