If you pay close attention to the names on Germany’s jerseys at the 2022 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship, you’ll notice a ‘Lu. Welcke’ and a ‘Li. Welcke’. It’s not a coincidence – these jerseys belong to Luisa and Lilli Welcke, 20-year-old twins from Heidelberg. 

“[Our older sister’s] name also starts with an L, so we all have the first two letters of the first name on the jersey,” said Lilli. “It’s kind of funny.” 

Luisa and Lilli are one of two sets of twins at the 2022 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship, the other being Hungary’s Aniko and Bernadett Nemeth. Making their senior World Championship debut, the Welckes are playing on opposite wings (Luisa on the left and Lilli on the right), with Bernadette Karpf at centre. They helped Germany take a 1-0 lead in their opener against Hungary, with Luisa scoring on their first shift of the game. The twins have played together from the start, and would like to continue being linemates as their careers progress. 

“When I see Lilli on the ice I also kind of see myself. When she does something good, I want to do the same thing because I know I can also do it,” said Luisa. “She can help acquire that skill. I think we push each other and we can just always learn from each other.”

Germany will not make the quarter-finals, and whether or not they will be relegated will be determined on Tuesday night when they face Denmark. Relegation (and promotion) is not a new phenomenon for the twins. Through four years on the U18 team, they experienced relegation once in 2018, and promotion up to the top division twice, in 2017 and 2020. 

“It’s just important that everybody is positive and doesn’t let the negativity get to their head,” Lilli said about playing tough games, which Germany has had several of in Frederikshavn. The Germans dropped a two-goal lead to lose their first game to Hungary 4-2. This was followed by a 4-3 shootout loss to Sweden, and a 6-0 loss to Czechia. The twins are taking these losses in stride, soaking in as much learning as possible from this experience.

“I think everybody at this level had already a rougher path getting here, so we all just appreciate having the opportunity of being here,” said Luisa. She says that her and Lilli first realized that reaching the World Championships was something they could achieve when they were invited to their first U16 national team tournament. 

“We saw that we can actually play at this level and that we are one of the best players in our country for that age. We definitely saw the opportunity there and we just wanted to get better and reach the next level.”

When asked who they look up to and who motivates them, Luisa and Lilli are quick to reference their older sister, two-time U18 national team defender Lea. 

“She made Team Germany before us, and just watching her play at Worlds [in 2016] made us want to reach the same goal,” said Lilli. “We worked hard so that we would have one year with her.” 

The three Welcke sisters won Division I gold together with the U18 women’s national team, and played three seasons together in the Frauen-Bundesliga. In 2018, they travelled together to the United States to pursue new opportunities to advance their skills. While Lea returned to Germany to join ERC Ingolstadt for the 2019/20 season, Luisa and Lilli stayed in North America, relocating to Ontario to play with Ridley College in the JWHL. 

“We really look forward to playing together,” said Luisa. “It’s just nice hearing your names together. It’s so unique because not many siblings play together.” This past season, all three Welckes played for the Mad Dogs Mannheim, with Luisa and Lilli leading the team in scoring. Lilli’s 21 goals put her second in the league behind Julia Zorn.

This fall, Luisa and Lilli head to the University of Maine, where they will be coached by two-time Olympic medallist and four-time World Champion Molly Engstrom.

“We were hoping that we would be recruited together so that we can improve together like we just did our whole life,” said Luisa about playing in the NCAA with Lilli.

“We’re both excited,” added Lilli. “Just playing at that college level, we always dreamed about it, and we can’t wait to get started.”

Their ultimate goal is to play for Germany at the Olympics. Lilli may have been close to achieving that this season, competing in the Olympic Qualification tournament and contributing two goals and two assists, but the Germans were unable to secure a berth in Beijing. However, this is really just the beginning for the Welcke twins. Those ‘Lu. Welcke’ and ‘Li. Welcke’ jerseys are ones to keep an eye out for over the next few years.