From bandy hockey to ice hockey
Krening's father was also active on the green turf in his day. However, the playing field was frozen and instead of a ball, players chased after a puck. It sounds exciting, yet somehow quite unfamiliar. “Because my father used to play bandy hockey in Russia, he took me along to public skating sessions,” Krening recalls of his early days.
Wait, bandy hockey? “You play more or less on a soccer field. There are handball goals and different sticks. The pace is brutal, but it’s also a lot of fun,” he explains.
Brothers take the next step together
Incidentally, his 18-year-old brother Robin, with whom he is in daily contact, was also a member of the Red Bull Ice Hockey Academy on the Bavarian-Austrian border in Liefering until this year. At the end of July, the defenseman moved to Devils Ulm/Neu-Ulm in the Bayernliga. “I think I'm a little more ambitious. But he's doing his thing and I'm doing mine. We look out for each other and have a very good relationship. And he gets the occasional tip from me,” says his big brother. So a new chapter in their careers is now beginning for both of them.