Nico Sturm strolled through the city. He shook hands, he smiled. He smiled at the Brandenburg Gate, he shook hands in the Mercedes-Benz Arena. He strolled along the Unter den Linden boulevard. He was sitting in the stands in the stadium in a dark suit. He did what he could do. But not what he actually came to Berlin for: for an ice hockey game in the jersey of the San José Sharks, his new club, against the German champions Eisbären Berlin before the Sharks start the National Hockey League season with two games this Friday and Saturday officially open against Nashville – in Prague.
The excursion to Europe under the somewhat faded label “NHL Global Series Challenge” primarily serves to cultivate the image of the best ice hockey league in the world. For Nico Sturm it was also an opportunity to get to know the capital. Berlin is something “completely new” for him, the 27-year-old admitted, and during two short visits as a youth player he didn’t see anything of the city.
Sturm emphasized: “First and foremost, we fly to Europe to win our first two games of the season and not to do tourist activities.” But when he was in Berlin, he wasn’t allowed to play against the polar bears because he had suffered a concussion in the previous test. And so Sturm did what tourists do: stroll around and see the sights. With one small difference: Sturm himself was one of the attractions of his visit to Berlin.
Short interim question: Nico Sturm?
Until a few months ago, this Nico Sturm, born and raised in Augsburg, was a blank slate even for many ice hockey experts. The answer to the most frequently asked question was: No, the striker is neither related nor related by marriage to former national coach Marco Sturm. Nico Sturm (154 games) even has the German NHL record holder (1006 games) a bit ahead: He won the Stanley Cup, only the fifth German after Uwe Krupp, Dennis Seidenberg, Tom Kühnhackl and Philipp Grubauer.
Thanks to the 2-1 win with the Colorado Avalanche in the sixth final game at defending champions Tampa Bay, Nico Sturm’s name is now on the most coveted trophy in the hockey world. And not Marco. Not even Leon Draisaitl, 26, who was already a top scorer and most valuable player in the NHL and who everyone expects to one day immortalize himself on the 16-pound monster. But Nico Sturm, who defeated Draisaitl and the Edmonton Oilers in the semifinals and says of himself: “I didn’t have the quality to play professional ice hockey in Germany.”
“If we win this thing, nobody cares how your name got on the pot.”
“When he was younger it didn’t look like his path would lead him to the NHL,” confirms Draisaitl. Both know each other from the school and youth leagues and share one thing in common: neither Draisaitl nor Sturm have ever played a game in the German ice hockey league. While the path of the exceptional talent Draisaitl to the ice hockey motherland was mapped out early on, it meant a way out for Sturm. The middle three brothers from the Neubergheim district of Augsburg, who all learned to play ice hockey at Augsburger EV, moved from ESV Kaufbeuren to Texas as a junior in the hope of somehow being able to keep their dream of studying and ice hockey alive in the USA.
Sturm plodded through the minor leagues through Corpus Christi, Austin and Kearney in Nebraska before arriving at Clarkson University in upstate New York in 2016. In the NCAA college league, he rose to prominence as captain and, at 24, received an NHL offer from Minnesota – as grinder, as diggers in the back rows who are supposed to put the opponent through the grinder and protect the backs of the artists on their own team. “He worked hard to become a fixture in the NHL,” says Draisaitl.
“I wasn’t always a worker, that only developed at the age of 16 or 17,” Sturm told the magazine Dump & Chase reveal. When the latecomer was transferred from Minnesota to Colorado in the spring, he saw less of a deportation than a unique opportunity in the temporary commitment: the chance of winning the Stanley Cup. “It’s the greatest thing there is.” The fact that he would play a rather inconspicuous role on the way to the title didn’t bother him: “If we win this thing, nobody cares how your name got on the pot.” He played in all six games of the final.
Since then, more and more people have been crowing his name at home. When Sturm was allowed to bring the cup to his hometown for a day in August, 2000 people came to Augsburg’s Curt Frenzel Stadium to see Nico Sturm in person. Sturm signed the city’s Golden Book and spent hours posing for photos with fans and youngsters. His brother Timo coaches the AEV U13s.
In San José, Sturm has now signed a contract until 2025, annual salary: two million dollars
“I’m going into my fourth year as a professional now, of course I want to take the next step towards a leadership role,” says Sturm. With a new $2 million a year contract through 2025, he’s “trying to switch off a little bit and enjoy playing hockey.” Nobody has to worry about the work attitude of the 1.91 meter tall striker. “Nico is a big and powerful attacker,” said Mike Grier, the Sharks’ general manager.
“He’s shown he can play consistently and help Colorado win a Stanley Cup.” It will hardly be about the cup with San José, the Californians recently missed the playoffs three times in a row. Achieving this, “that’s realistic,” believes Sturm. And maybe he can also inspire his colleagues Lukas Reichel (20, Chicago) and Leon Gawanke (23, Winnipeg), who were initially sent to the second-class AHL by their NHL clubs. “You can always develop,” says Sturm – he himself is the best example.
Reichel and Gawanke, on the other hand, have something ahead of Sturm: Both have DEL and even World Cup experience. An appointment to the national team, yes, that would be another goal, says Sturm. However, a World Cup appearance next spring would mean he hasn’t gotten very far with the Sharks. That’s why he takes it pragmatically: “I’m just hoping to be in the line-up against Nashville on Friday. I’m training hard again and feel 100 percent fit.” Nico Sturm has had enough of being a tourist.