A lot of work awaits the new national ice hockey coach Harold Kreis before the World Cup. At his debut, Kreis sees a clear defeat at the start of the preparation.
The beginning of Harold Kreis’s federal coaching era for the national ice hockey team failed. Against the twelve-time world champion Czech Republic, Germany’s men started the World Cup preparations in Kassel with a 2:6 (1:0, 0:2, 1:4).
When the new national coach Kreis made his debut in front of around 3,800 spectators, only Düsseldorf’s Tobias Eder (9th minute) outnumbered and Jonas Müller (52nd) from the Eisbären Berlin for the selection of the German Ice Hockey Association, which, like the Czechs, still established a number players were absent.
Particularly bitter were two goals conceded in the final section by Roman Horak (41st) and Jakub Flek (50th), who had also scored the equalizer to make it 1-1 (28th). In addition, David Tomasek (35th), Ondrej Beranek (59th) and Filip Chlapik (59th) scored in the empty German goal for the third place in the 2022 World Cup. On Saturday (5 p.m. / MagentaSport) in Frankfurt the second was again against the Czech Republic Preparatory game for the World Cup in Finland and Latvia in May.
Six games until the start of the World Cup
“We’re tense. I’m looking forward to the task,” said Kreis before his debut at MagentaSport. The 66-year-old longtime DEL coach took over the national team after the end of the main round of the German Ice Hockey League in March because predecessor Toni Söderholm (44) switched to SC Bern in November. The Finn is no longer in office there.
Kreis still has six more games to implement his ideas and find his World Cup team before the start of the World Cup on May 12 against Sweden. After the game on Saturday, there are still tests against Austria (April 20th and 22nd), in Slovakia (April 28th and 29th) and finally against the USA (May 9th). Little by little, the current squad will also change and be supplemented by players from clubs that failed in the DEL playoffs, players who are still rested and North American professionals.
A good start is not enough
In the current squad, Kreis is missing, among other things, established centers in the storm. Nevertheless, the German team started confidently against the third place in the 2022 World Cup, as it had always been under Söderholm. The first goal of the Kreis era was scored by his former protégé Eder from the Düsseldorf EG with a strong majority.
However, the young Czech team got into the game better and better from the middle section and turned the game around. When it came to conceding goals, Maximilian Franzreb from Bremerhaven had no chance in the German goal on his international debut.