Germany again missed the reward at the Ice Hockey World Championships
No getting through: Fabio Wagner against the American Michael Eyssimont
Quelle: AFP/HEIKKI SAUKKOMAA
The German national ice hockey team also lost their third group game at the Ice Hockey World Championships. Despite a strong performance in terms of play, the next narrow defeat was against the USA in the end. Now the hopes rest on an unexpected reinforcement.
Dominik kahun shook his head. 70 seconds before the final siren, Marcel Noebels had maneuvered the puck with his backhand from close range to the side netting. The German national ice hockey team had long since taken out the goalkeeper in their World Cup group game against the USA and put everything on one card. But even the last major opportunity remained unused.
The team missed the deserved reward for a playfully appealing performance and conceded the third narrow defeat with the 2:3 (0:0, 2:1, 0:2) in the third game. At the start, the DEB team lost 1-0 to Sweden and then lost 3-4 to hosts Finland. “Of course there is frustration. We each lost by a goal. In some ways we were the better team. Like today. Nevertheless, we can go into the next game with a lot of confidence. We shouldn’t hang our heads for long,” said player Maximilian Kastner: “We didn’t make many mistakes in the game.”
Goals from Samuel Soramies (31st minute) from the Augsburg Panthers outnumbered and Justin Schütz (40th) from the German champions EHC Red Bull Munich were not enough. AHL pro Ronnie Attard (26th), Sean Farrell of the Montreal Canadiens (46th) and Matt Coronato of the Calgary Flames (55th) scored for the favored US team.
After the tough opening program and two days without games, Germany must now win against Denmark on Thursday (7.20 p.m. / Sport1 and MagentaSport) in order to keep the chance of reaching the quarter-finals.
“We played the third good game, maybe even the best today,” agreed captain Moritz Müller and looked ahead: “On the whole we have to keep playing like this, but maybe we can get more people to score.”
Draisaitl could strengthen the team
It is still unclear whether the selection of the German Ice Hockey Federation will be strengthened by NHL star Leon Draisaitl at the end of the week. The 27-year-old world-class player was eliminated with his Edmonton Oilers in the NHL playoffs on Sunday (local time) and could now travel to Finland afterwards. DEB sports director Christian Künast left open on the sidelines of the game against the USA whether contact had already been made. “If there is anything to report, we will report it,” Künast said before the game at MagentaSport. “There are a lot of things to do. We are very meticulous in the background. We are prepared for anything.”
The German team could use Draisaitl’s attack power. The German team also found it difficult to score goals against the USA, despite significantly more shots on goal than in the past. In the NHL season that has now ended for him, exceptional striker Draisaitl collected a total of 146 points and would be the world‘s biggest star at his first World Cup in four years.
After the two unfortunate defeats at the start, the DEB selection also took psychological help from a mental trainer. Something had to change in terms of personnel. As announced, national coach Kreis changed the offensive lines somewhat. In addition, Manuel Wiederer played for the first time in this tournament. The Berlin striker replaced Daniel Fischbuch from Düsseldorf, who had also been disappointing up to now. Leon Gawanke, who only arrived in Tampere on Sunday, was used in defense for the first time after his playoff exit with Manitoba Moose in the North American AHL.
The changes worked, Germany started very superior. The DEB selection hit the crossbar a few times but not into the net. Germany also acted too unluckily in several outnumbered games. The Americans, on the other hand, immediately had significantly more shots on target in their first majority situation in the second third and also took the lead. Defender Kai Wissmann unluckily deflected an actually harmless shot into his own net.
Ironically, in the next game with a man down, the overdue first German goal finally came: Soramies completed an energetic advance from captain Moritz Müller to equalize. Four seconds before the end of the middle section, the fourth row, which has been remarkably strong in this tournament so far, took the lead. The 22-year-old Munich Schütz tipped the puck into the net in a solo effort on the US goal.
In the final third, the USA then put more pressure and turned the game into a very fortunate victory thanks to NHL pros Farrell and Coronato.