Germany at the Ice Hockey World Championship: Another goal less – sport

If a = b and b = c, then a = c. Mathematics. basic knowledge. But soccer isn’t mathematics and ice hockey isn’t at all, as I said before… it doesn’t matter. Otherwise it would be clear that the Americans, who won the World Cup 4-1 against hosts Finland, would have to defeat the German ice hockey team, which lost 3-4 to the Finns on Saturday, by about 6-3. Just like at the last World Cup test last week in Munich.

Ice hockey might not be math. But statistics. And that said on Monday evening: The German team lost its third World Cup game despite possibly the best tournament performance. The team of national coach Harold Kreis lost 2:3 (0:0, 2:1, 0:2) to the USA on Monday and is still waiting for the first points after the defeats against Sweden and Finland. “It’s very bitter to look at the boys’ faces right now,” said NHL professional Nico Sturm.

Despite the bad memories of Tuesday a week ago, Kreis once again opted for goalkeeper Mathias Niederberger, who had been sidelined against the Finns. “That wasn’t entirely happy for Mathias,” admitted Kreis in Tampere. “Mathias is better (than the result might suggest, ed.), I know that and he knows that.”

Observers who are close to the team attest to Niederberger’s gift of being able to shake off past adversity quickly and without leaving any residue. The Munich player showed that on Monday against Michael Eyssimont and was lucky once when an American puck rang the post. At the other end, Parker Tuomie, Justin Schütz, Frederik Tiffels and Wojciech Stachowiak tested US goalie Casey DeSmith, Manuel Wiederer only hit the crossbar. The 8003 spectators in the Nokia Arena, among them the former national coach Toni Söderholm, saw a balanced game in the first third, with advantages for the Germans.

Niederberger also showed no sign of after-effects in the second third when Drew O’Connor went it alone. However, he had no chance against teammate Kai Wissmann: A slap shot from Ronnie Attard, which would have whizzed past the goal, was deflected by the defender with his left skate into his own net to make it 0-1 (26′).

Key game for the quarterfinals on Thursday against Denmark

Kreis had made two changes to the outfield players. The Berliner Wiederer moved into the third German attack line for Daniel Fischbuch from Düsseldorf, and a Leon was also there, not Draisaitl, but Gawanke. The future Mannheimer had traveled to Tampere from Manitoba and was supposed to sharpen the German power play. But the first German goal was a man down: Captain Moritz Müller drove the puck dynamically down the right flank into the American third, put it inside to Samuel Soramies, and the Augsburger, who was certainly not used to success this season, scored confidently to equalize (31st minute). ). Soramies could even have made it 2-1. But DeSmith isn’t a bad goalkeeper either.

The 2:1 was handed over to Justin Schütz, who cheated the puck through the schooners after a break by DeSmith. Even the best goalkeeper – see Niederberger – sometimes has bad luck. With this 2:1, five seconds before the siren, we went into the second break. Footnote: Niederberger had previously also used the schooner perfectly against Anders Bjork.

The Germans had other very good chances – and let them lie. “Maybe sometimes we want to make it too nice,” said captain Moritz Müller. And a US team doesn’t give up that easily. Sean Farrell sent a puck through the traffic in front of Niederberger’s goal, which was blocked from sight, and heralded the nail-biting phase with the 2:2 (46th minute), which was followed by the groaning phase on the German side. The penalty against top defender Moritz Seider was an invitation for the USA to make it 3-2, and Matt Coronato accepted it (55′). Marcel Noebels missed the last German chance (59th).

The German team is now without a game for two days before playing against Denmark (Thursday) and Austria (Friday) for a place in the quarter-finals. “You can see how close the games were. That gives us confidence,” said Niederberger. “If we keep playing like this, there’s no way around getting the wins.”