For Matthias Plachta, striker at Adler Mannheim, Monday had a happy start: with a idiosyncratic but heartfelt serenade from his colleagues on his 31st birthday: Hyvää syntymäpäivää, Plachti! “Maybe tonight, then we’ll have two days off,” said Plachta, and of course he hoped that they would then have three more points in their pockets after the third group game at the Ice Hockey World Championships in Finland against France. But the French had not brought many gifts. After a tough fight, the German team won against the outsider 3:2 (2:1, 0:1, 1:0).
Daniel Fischbuch from Düsseldorf took the first chance in the power play to take the lead early (3rd), it was an aperitif that the DEB team really liked. It could go on like this. Or?
This is exactly what national coach Toni Söderholm had warned against: To believe that after the first tournament win (2-1) against Slovakia, things would just go on like this. Against France, one of the two substitutes for the suspended teams from Russia and Belarus, it will be important to be patient and act as a team again. He was worried that his team might get nervous, he said afterwards: “But the boys realized what they had to correct.”
Niederberger, the second German goalkeeper, has no chance of equalizing
They didn’t seem to have to be very patient at first: In the fourth minute, Stefan Loibl had the next party firecracker in his hands. But Sebastian Ylönen, son of former Augsburg goalkeeper Petri Ylönen, stopped the future Mannheimer’s break with a man down.
In the German goal for the first time at this tournament was Mathias Niederberger, goalkeeper at the German champions Eisbären Berlin and most recently at the Olympic Games in February and at the World Cup in 2021, when the DEB selection made it into the semi-finals, twice number one. NHL goalkeeper Philipp Grubauer (Seattle), who guaranteed victory against Slovakia with 28 saves, was given a break by Söderholm. “To know that the next person coming in is also a top goalkeeper is of course a great feeling,” said captain Moritz Müller.
But even Niederberger could do little when Alexandre Texier (Columbus), currently the only NHL professional in Philippe Bozon’s squad, peppered the disc in the second power play of the French with a direct acceptance into the net (15th) – a specialty like her Plachta is usually served, not just for birthdays. It was now getting louder in Helsingin Jäähalli. First the French handed out a few solid checks. Then the German fans cheered again: Alexander Ehl deflected a chip from Dominik Bittner to make it 2-1 (18th). The nominally fourth row had their first tournament goal. But it could really go on like this. Or?
Noebels on Pföderl – a Berlin combination leads to the winning goal
The German team pushed for the third goal after the first break. Marc Michaelis’ pawn trick didn’t slip over the line even after several minutes of video checking, Moritz Seider missed from a similar position as in the 3: 5 against Canada when he preferred to play than to shoot and then got angry with himself: “Of course it has to thing over the line.” This time he shot, the result remained the same.
At this point, NHL professional Tim Stützle had already hobbled into the dressing room. The 20-year-old had been tackled hard in the first third, had hit back with a stick, which led to the penalty and ultimately to a goal, and did not come back. The DEB initially did not provide any final information about Stützle’s injury in the evening, nor about a possible follow-up trip for Leon Gawanke and Lukas Reichel, who were eliminated in the AHL playoffs. To top it all off Blues in the 32nd minute through Hugo Gallet to make it 2:2 and proved to be increasingly annoying party crashers. “You have to beat them first,” Captain Müller had wisely predicted.
20:11 shots on goal for the German team, but 2:2 goals: That’s how it went in the last third. Again, the start belonged to the DEB team, and this time two experts tried to get the celebration going again: a pass from champion polar bear Marcel Noebels to champion polar bear Leo Pföderl, a Berlin dream combination like white with a shot, made it 3:2 (46.), demanded from the boxes Queen “Don’t stop me now”. But it still took a little patience and a few courageous interventions by Niederberger. Then the whole team could cheer.
