A lot of things are the same as last year. Right at the start, the German team has to survive against the three strongest group opponents at the World Cup in the Czech Republic from Friday (April 10, 2024).
The Slovaks are waiting in the opening game, followed by the Americans a day later and then the Swedes. Twelve months ago there were three narrow defeats against Sweden, Finland and the USA, but in the end they still celebrated a great second place. In Ostrava the signs are similar, but the initial situation is still different.
Transience is particularly at home in sport. If it didn’t exist, defeats would be hard to bear and victories would eventually taste stale. What was is over. What comes next, however, is uncertain.
“We’re starting from scratch again,” says Harold Kreis, the national coach, whom everyone calls “Harry.” He recently spoke a lot with his players about the days in Tampere in May last year. A great time that left great expectations. The team and coach now have to manage these expectations. And learn from the past.
Ice Hockey World Cup, schedule arrow on the right
Success: curse or blessing?
A few players are still there who can talk about losing sight of the big goal under great pressure. Two years ago, at the Winter Games in Beijing, the German team traveled from Pyeongchang with the silver medal on their minds.
Many Goosebumps films were made in advance. The anticipation was enormous. The national coach at the time, Toni Söderholm, was persuaded to declare the gold medal as the goal. After a few days, the German team returned to Germany far too early with empty hands and faces.
Which professionals come from the NHL?
Transience feels a little more at home in ice hockey than in other sports. A new world champion is determined every year. Every year there is hope that as many of the best players in the world as possible find their way to the World Cup tournament.
Every year, this final round is like a lottery, because if the best players from their own country are eliminated early from the playoffs in the North American NHL or do not qualify for them and instead travel to the World Cup, that means an enormous boost in quality.
The DEB selection once again won some winnings in this lottery this spring. For example, Nico Sturm, the undaunted striker and leader who has had an exhaustingly unsuccessful year in San José.
Or Philipp Grubauer, the goalkeeper of the Seattle Kraken. He also experienced a complicated season, missed the playoffs, but at least he survived a long injury and his subsequent reserve role. And of course JJ Peterka from the Sabers in Buffalo, who had a promising year and wouldn’t mind being voted the best striker of the tournament again at this World Cup.
Without Draisaitl, Stützle and Seider
But there were also a few failures in this lottery. Leon Draisaitl dreams and sweats with and for the Oilers from Edmonton about his first Stanley Cup victory. And no one believes that he could still keep up, even if the current playoff series against Vancouver goes wrong.
Tim Stützle, who also had another strong year in Ottawa and who is without a doubt the best German striker after Draisaitl, has already canceled. The problems with his hands and shoulders have been plaguing him for a long time.
And then there is perhaps the most serious absence: Moritz Seider, defender in Detroit and an important silver lining from last year, will almost certainly not come to the Czech Republic either. He is currently out of contract and is currently negotiating the biggest contract of his life with the Red Wings.
This uncertainty is difficult to insure. If you then point out that striker Marcel Noebels from Berlin and defender Leon Gawanke from Mannheim cannot be there in Ostrava, who were also important pillars last year and who provided that certain something, especially in the power play, then you have to As a German ice hockey fan, you have to deal with transience a little more intensively.
More than just “annoyances”
But doom and gloom is not the business of national coach Harry Kreis. He now knows how it works or can work. And this statement about zero hour is not entirely true. Regardless of the composition, something has changed in the German national ice hockey team. The DEB players are now highly respected, self-confident opponents. Every game means a chance, every defeat is one too many.
The last time the World Cup was held in the Czech Republic it was completely different. At that time, the national coach at the time promised a round of free beer at the hotel bar if his team survived at least a third of the game unscathed against the Canadians.
Germany lost 0:10. It was a throwback to bad times. This time, however, the Germans arrived without their big stars, but with confidence and the certainty that they will be hard to beat as a team if they can form a team quickly. Whether this will be successful will only be known in the coming week.
Seven games – seven feats of strength
The seven opponents in the preliminary round are all tough. Even the supposedly smaller ones. There are the Latvians with their experienced, fearless hardcore gamers and two extraordinary goalies. There are the Austrians and French, who really got on the Germans’ side in preparation.
The Kazakhs with their unpronounceable names, but at least three rows who have known each other since the sandbox. The Poles, the euphoric newcomers, for whom every game in Ostrava becomes a home game, because the border is only a stone’s throw away.
Harry Kreis’ team had to win four games to reach the quarterfinals. “We’re starting from scratch again,” says the national coach. He’s right about the table. As far as the self-image of the DEB team is concerned, nothing more.