The excitement at the start of the ice hockey season: Yannick Seidenberg, one of the Olympic heroes in Pyeongchang 2018, is suspected of doping. The 38-year-old has been suspended. Meanwhile, his former teammate Moritz Müller cannot imagine that Seidenberg did intentionally doping.
The start of the season in the German Ice Hockey League (DEL) has been overshadowed by suspected doping against former national player Yannick Seidenberg. According to the German Ice Hockey Association (DEB), the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) found “an analysis result that deviated from the norm” in the defender during a training control on Wednesday evening. Hence the former selection player was temporarily banned by NADA on September 14, 2022. His club, EHC Red Bull Munich, briefly suspended the player.
Meanwhile, the 173-time pick gets the support of a former colleague. DEB Captain Moritz Müller defends Seidenberg. “I don’t know any more details, but I do know that Yannick is not a doper,” Müller said after Kölner Hai’s 6:3 on Thursday evening at the start of the season against EHC Red Bull Munich. “If someone intentionally dopes, he should be banned. Not so with Yannick. There must have been something he didn’t know about.”
“There’s some bias going on right now, without really knowing what happened,” complained Müller, who once played with Seidenberg in Cologne and on the national team for years. Together they crowned an impressive hero’s journey in 2018 and won an Olympic silver medal at the Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. “Yannick is a great player and has always been an impeccable professional. We played together for a long time to learn that Yannick is a model professional,” Muller said. “I can’t explain it other than that he took something unintentionally. That doesn’t necessarily make you innocent, but I’m pretty sure there was no intention involved.”
DEB, EHC Red Bull Munich and Seidenberg themselves do not wish to comment further on the matter at this time. “It hit him hard,” said Mueller, 35, who said he spoke briefly to Seidenberg on the morning of the first game of the season. According to his lawyer Rainer Cherkeh, Seidenberg is fully cooperating with NADA in clarifying the matter.
From a sports point of view, the season started off with a big surprise. Cologne’s victory against a major title contender from Munich was a real statement. In front of 13,177 spectators, Andreas Eder (4th minute) and national keeper Mathias Niederberger’s early lead was of no use to the guests. Newcomer to champion Eisbren Berlin conceded two braces from Maximilian Kemmerer (16th/33rd) and Marc-Louis Aubry (39th/47th) and another goal from Brad Austin (48th). In John Matsumoto’s sixth Cologne goal (57th), Niederberger left the ice in favor of another fielder. Patrick Hager (51st) and Austin Ortega (59th) went short for Munich.
