Ice Hockey World Championship
DEB team keeps quarter-final chance: First win against Danes
The German ice hockey team keeps the chance to reach the quarterfinals. photo
© Pavel Golovkin/AP/dpa
In the fourth game, the German ice hockey team achieved their first victory at the World Cup. Thanks to a strong middle third, the DEB selection defeated Denmark. The next success must already come on Friday.
The first mandatory victory at the Ice Hockey World Championships has been achieved, three more must follow. With the 6: 4 (0: 1, 3: 1, 3: 2) against Denmark, Germany got the chance to reach the quarterfinals.
Already on Friday (7.20 p.m. / Sport1 and MagentaSport) the next success must come against Austria. NHL striker John-Jason Peterka from the Buffalo Sabers (30th minute), Alexander Ehl (32nd) from Düsseldorfer EG, captain Moritz Müller (38th) from the Kölner Haien and Jonas Müller (56th) all scored against Denmark Gates. Marcel Noebels (59th) and NHL striker Nico Sturm from the San Jose Sharks (60th) secured Germany’s first points at the World Cup in Finland and Latvia in the turbulent final phase.
The first three games against the title co-favourites Sweden (0:1), Finland (3:4) and the USA (2:3) were unfortunate for the selection of national coach Harold Kreis. The pressure is now great, which was felt from the start on Thursday.
Germany only awake in the second third
The first third was by far the weakest in the entire World Cup. Germany played nervously at first, made a number of bad passes in the build-up and hardly created a goal threat. A shot by Matias Lassen (6th) deflected into his own net by Captain Müller rounded off the picture in a negative way. But the selection of the German Ice Hockey Federation fought back into the game and from then on also brought significantly more shots on the Danish goal.
In the second third, Germany was superior and deservedly turned the game around. 13 to 2 shots on goal symbolized the high superiority, which was also reflected in goals. However, the second Danish goal by Mathias Bau (40′) was completely unnecessary and kept the game exciting. “I think we just go more towards the goal, we play a little dirty. We played a super third,” said goal scorer Peterka after the middle section at Sport1.
In the final third, Denmark actually managed to equalize through Christian Wejse (56th) from Pinguins Bremerhaven, but a goalkeeper error by Denmark enabled the direct renewed German lead through Berliner Müller, which brought Germany over time in the turbulent final minutes. The discipline in the German game was also strong. In the important game, the district team did not afford a single penalty time. After the German 5: 3 by Noebels, Wejse shortened again (60th).
First World Cup victory, NHL support is missing
Since the DEB team did not score a point in the first games against the larger ice hockey nations despite good performances, the pressure remains high. After the playoff end with Seattle Kraken, NHL goalkeeper Philipp Grubauer and world-class striker Leon Draisaitl will not help to reach the minimum target of the quarterfinals.
Both would have arrived in Tampere on Sunday at the earliest, which is too late for the DEB. Sports director Christian Künast had previously said that Draisaitl would be worthwhile “even for just one game”. After the task on Friday against Austria, the German team still has the preliminary round games on Sunday (3.20 p.m.) against Hungary and on Tuesday (11.20 a.m. / both Sport1 and MagentaSport) against France.