Updated June 5, 2021, 7:48 p.m.
- The German national ice hockey team missed the World Cup final.
- The team of national coach Toni Söderholm lost the first World Cup semi-final in eleven years against his home country Finland.
- Now it’s about bronze against the USA.
Individual mistakes versus cool Finnish efficiency – Germany’s ice hockey crack stays after the missed World Cup final now the chance for the first World Cup medal in 68 years. The team of national coach Toni Söderholm lost the first World Cup semi-final in eleven years against his home country on Saturday Finland just 1: 2 (0: 2, 1: 0, 0: 0). Even with the best performance of the passionately fighting German team in this tournament, it was not enough for a surprise success, because among other things, goalkeeper Mathias Niederberger, who was so reliable up to now, made a decisive mistake.
An overpayment hit by Mannheim’s Matthias Plachta (32nd minute) was too little for the strong German team, who were too wasteful with their own chances. For the merciless three-time world champion Finland Iiro Pakarinen (14th) from Jokerit Helsinki and Hannes Björninen (19th) from Pelicans Lahti met. Already had in the preliminary round Germany against the home of national coach Söderholm, whose assistant coach Ville Peltonen and goalkeeping coach Ilpo Kauhanen lost just under 1: 2.
Bronze game on Sunday
On Sunday, Germany will play for the bronze medal against the USA (2.15 p.m. / Sport1) and can still achieve the best result in a world championship since 1953. At that time, however, the selection of the German Ice Hockey Association won silver in the final settlement with only three participants after Czechoslovakia had left prematurely. At the 2010 home World Cup, the DEB team finished fourth. Finland has the chance to defend their title against Canada on Sunday evening (7.15 p.m.).
“Germany will be a very unpleasant opponent for the Finns today,” Söderholm said before the semifinals at Sport1. And in fact, the DEB selection was not only even, but better in the game than the favorite at the beginning. In the first third, she owned the bigger chances, but they went unused.
Happy leadership
The three-time world champion came out of nowhere to take the lead. Ironically, the so far strong Niederberger made a mistake in a harmless shot by Pakarinen and let the target slide through his legs into the goal. Björninen even increased to 2-0 shortly before the first break, after a rebounding disc fell into the barrel after an unclean pass from Lukas Reichel to Moritz Seider. “The goals were really unnecessary,” complained NHL striker Dominik Kahun. “I definitely think we’re the better team.”
The fact that the German team acted at least at eye level without individual errors was proven in the middle section, in which Plachta scored an outnumbered goal. The German power play had previously been completely harmless in the tournament. There were hopes of turning a 2-0 draw against Switzerland in the quarter-finals. In the final third, Germany put pressure on again and was now overwhelmingly superior. A late compensation did not happen this time.
Success despite defeat
Despite the renewed semi-final defeat – Germany lost 2-1 to Russia in Cologne in 2010 – the World Cup is already a success and confirms the Olympic silver medal in Pyeongchang. Söderholm, the successor to Marco Sturm, failed in his first World Cup as national coach with his team in the quarter-finals against the Czech Republic (1: 5) in 2019 and from then on had set the goal of trying to survive against the top nations in the future. Especially at this tournament, which under special circumstances rises in a bubble and without the absolute top stars due to the coronavirus pandemic, Söderholm had expected a chance of a surprise.
“It is getting closer and closer that a German national team will play a semi-final”, Söderholm had said before the World Cup in view of developments in German ice hockey – and he was right. By moving into the semifinals, Germany consolidated seventh place in the world rankings, which are important for the World Cup schedule and Olympic qualifications, and increases its lead over arch-rivals Switzerland. (dpa / cdo)
His boys were making ice hockey history when they made it to the semi-finals of the Ice Hockey World Championships in Latvia. Toni Söderholm leaves no doubt about that. Before the semifinals against his compatriots from Finland, the touched national coach grants a glimpse into his soul. (Teaser image: picture alliance / dpa / Roman Koksarov) © ProSiebenSat.1
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