Ice Hockey World Championship
Circle: Score more discs against Finland
National coach Harold Kreis demands more determination from the team in front of goal. photo
© Armin Weigel/dpa
At the start of the Ice Hockey World Championship, Germany only just missed out on a surprise against Sweden. Already today it’s against the current world champion and World Cup host.
Ice hockey national coach Harold Kreis asked for more determination in front of the goal before the second World Cup game against hosts Finland.
“That’s definitely something we want to take with us into tomorrow’s game: more shots on goal, more traffic,” said Kreis after the 1-0 defeat of Sweden at the start of the World Cup in Tampere.
The 64-year-old German-Canadian was satisfied with the performance against the eleven-time world champion: “But overall, the performance and commitment of the team is a very good guide for the games that are still waiting for us.”
Germany is also a clear outsider against the defending champions Finland today, despite Finland’s 4-1 loss to the USA at the start. “Of course the Finns are under even more pressure because they lost today. They’ll come all the harder,” said attacker Dominik Kahun and captain Moritz Müller said: “I’m expecting Finns who will come out of the starting blocks very hot. They’ll try to make something up straight away. We have to stay cool, keep a cool head with the backdrop too.” According to Müller, the game against Sweden showed “that we can play against the big players.”
Nevertheless, the problems with scoring goals are becoming more and more of an issue. “I think we shouldn’t interpret so much into it now,” said Müller. “The end wasn’t quite there today. Maybe we didn’t have the necessary luck on the power play either.”
At the World Cup in Finland and Latvia, only two of the ten best German DEL goalscorers of the past season are there. The others are either injured or have not received an invitation from the new national coach. “We have enough guys who can score goals, who have quality,” said striker Marcel Noebels.