Linesmen Oto Durmis and Daniel Konc about the special moments at the U20 World Championships

For Oto Durmis, it was the third World Championships in his career. However, it wasn't enough for a final appearance until last Friday, when the Slovakian was called up for the final at the U20 World Championship in Sweden. At first, he couldn't believe that he had been nominated for the final, as he said in the interview: "I was incredibly happy, I couldn't believe it for a few minutes. The nomination was sent out around midnight the day before. I'd already gone to bed because I'd been in action in the semi-final just a few hours before, but when I read the news that I'd been nominated for the final, I couldn't fall asleep for an hour or two.“

More than 11,000 spectators were part of the finals between host Sweden and the USA. For Oto Durmis, who officiated a total of six games at the World Championships, it was therefore a very special moment to walk into the full arena in Götheborg, although he was less nervous than expected: "To be honest, I was the least nervous in the final compared to my other games before. All four of us played the semi-final together and it went well. We got to the final as a team, so we tried to do everything the same and even took the same seats in the changing room. We had a certain sense of responsibility not to mess it up. But I really enjoyed the game, the crowd, the atmosphere was electric, that's something that spurs me on to perform better, even though a lot of people assume it's harder when there are so many people in the arena."

Daniel Konc was standby in the match for 3rd place
Daniel Konc, a second linesman from the win2day ICE Hockey League, was also in action until the end. It was the Slovakian's second U20 World Championship in a row. In Sweden, Konc played in five matches. He was also nominated as a standby in the match for 3rd place, although he would have been happier to be called up as a member of the refereeing team: "Of course I was delighted to be on the list, but of course I would have been even happier to be nominated as a linesman in such an important match."

Daniel Konc was delighted for his colleague Oto Durmis when he was called up for the final: "I was very happy for Oto, we've known each other for several years, we've worked together as linesmen for six years, we help each other and are good friends. What makes me a little sad is that we didn't get a game together at the tournament. But that may happen in the future."

"It shows the high quality of the ICE"
According to Konc, the fact that Simon Riecken, a third linesman from the win2day ICE Hockey League, was also in action at the U20 World Cup shows the high quality of the ICE: "It certainly shows the high quality of the ICE, where we can continue to improve and where we have excellent conditions for our work and we are proud to be able to work in such a high-quality league. There are several referees and linesmen in the league who have more international experience than I do. I would also like to thank them for sharing their experience, for example Ladislav Smetana, Elias Seewald, David Nothegger, the Nikolic brothers, Sternat and many more." Oto Durmis added: "Daniel, Simon and I were a great team. We supported each other every day off the ice during the tournament, just like we do on the ice every game in the ICE. It definitely reflects the standard in the league, but even more so it reflects and highlights the work of referee development in the ICE to prepare us for these types of games and that's priceless."