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First Posted: 2/7/2014 While his Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins teammates will be busy pulling for the American, Canadian, Russian and Czech ice hockey teams in the Olympics, Tom Kuhnhackl can only hope that his country will be competing in 2018.
The German ice hockey team lost to Italy in the qualification tournament and was unable to defeat eventual qualifier Austria in regulation, ending its bid for a spot in the 2014 Olympics. The disappointment continues a long drought for Germany, which last won a medal &#8212; a bronze &#8212; in the 1976 Olympics and hasn&#8217;t finished in the top five since 1988.
&#8220;Losing to Italy was a big step back for Germany,&#8221; Kuhnhackl said.
Kuhnhackl said there has been much discussion in Germany about how to do that, and there is one idea which he said will work.
Teams in the German first and second leagues can play more than a dozen import players &#8212; those from other countries, such as the U.S. and Canada. The practice makes it nearly impossible for German players to get playing time on the top three lines, if they even play at all.
&#8220;No German guys really play in the German leagues,&#8221; Kuhnhackl said. &#8220;They don&#8217;t have a chance to get that experience when they&#8217;re young, which would give them a chance to come over here and play, and get better.&#8221;
Kuhnhackl supports a proposal to reduce the number of imports on German teams to five or six, freeing up more ice time for German players on the top three lines. He said Switzerland made a similar move years ago and they have become an international powerhouse.
But there is some resistance to the change from teams that rely on signing import players to produce winning seasons.
Kuhnhackl would rather see the wins come in the Olympics.
&#8220;If we reduce the number of imports, German hockey will get better,&#8221; he said.
Although the last German medal came decades ago, Kuhnhackl said his country still views the achievement with pride. His father, Erich, was a member of the 1976 German team, and he has seen the medal and watched videos of the Olympic games.
Now, Kuhnhackl said, it&#8217;s time to work on getting Germany back to being a competitor once again.
&#8220;My dad was on that 1976 team, so it is special (to me) and it&#8217;s a big moment for Germany,&#8221; Kuhnhackl said. &#8220;It&#8217;s been almost 40 years since we won a medal, so it&#8217;s about time for German hockey to improve.&#8221;

Kuhnhackl has little to cheer for in Olympics