Important information first: “After the vote we will take a lunch break. The food will be served in the same room where breakfast was served.” Experience has shown that at the annual congress of the World Ice Hockey Federation IIHF on Friday in Tampere, it would be after the next item on the agenda, the last before the lunch break, immediately become restless: awarding the World Championship 2027. And so, according to the protocol, IIHF Secretary General Matti Nurminen pointed out where there would be something to putty afterwards; after all, as master of ceremonies you bear responsibility. The delegates had one minute for their anonymous vote, then at 10:59 a.m., IIHF President Luc Tardif unfolded the paper with the result: 102 votes for Germany, 34 for Kazakhstan. And now: Bon appetit.
The first statements were available three minutes later. “This is a milestone for the DEB,” said Peter Merten, President of the German Ice Hockey Federation. DEB Secretary General Claus Gröbner, who was responsible for the concept, said: “The joy is huge.”
Three minutes between the vote and the press release: One can assume that the DEB had prepared something there. If it had gone wrong, you could have left it in the drawer. But confidence was high, even if Gröbner had spoken of an “open race” until the very end.
If only everything could be prepared with so much advance notice, national coach Harold Kreis must have thought these days at the World Cup in Tampere and Riga. Given what Kreis experienced before and during this tournament, a World Cup award is as predictable as a fine for speeding on construction sites.
“We are not dependent on one or two players,” says national coach Kreis
This quarter-final against Switzerland alone. In the lead, conceding an equaliser, six minutes out of play and then Moritz Seider, Germany’s best defender, had to leave the ice with a game penalty after 31 minutes. Other teams and coaches have already gotten the fluttering. But Kreis said: “So what happens. We are not dependent on one or two players. One is out? Then the next one does a little more.” Then they score two more goals against the best team in the preliminary round, win 3-1, are back in the semi-finals of a World Cup after 2010 and 2021 and have the chance to win their first World Cup medal since 1953.
At his first World Cup as head coach, Kreis, 64, seems like there’s nothing he hasn’t seen, nothing he can’t control. There were some construction sites. Draisaitl, Grubauer, Stützle, Hager, Ehliz, Plachta – he dealt a total of 15 cancellations before this tournament. But Kreis knows when to accelerate and when to brake. He says: “We trust the players who are here.”
Maximilian Kastner was the first to score against Switzerland, a wall woodpecker type who tears holes for others and rarely shines himself. “The 1-0 certainly helped,” said Kreis, especially the way it fell, Kastner’s shot crawling through Swiss goalie Robert Mayer’s equipment and rolling upright into the goal, as if he just wanted to check out how it did beyond the red line is like that. That reminded the Swiss fatally of how they had lost the last three knockout duels with the Germans, who, according to “Nati” trainer Patrick Fischer, should have a problem with Swiss speed.
Are you out? Then Dominik Kahun and John Peterka conjure up the 2:1, and 37 seconds later the game is decided because Wojciech Stachowiak, one of eight debutants in the German World Cup squad, serves the 3:1 to Nico Sturm outnumbered.
Harold Kreis once admitted that he wasn’t always as calm as he seemed on the bench. On Thursday, after reaching the semi-finals, he said with tears in his eyes: “I’m in good hands with this team.” A sentence that reveals that this coach not only trusts his team. But that he too confided in him.
“There are no egos,” says the captain, “team spirit comes first.”
Kreis had made tough decisions before the tournament, renounced goalscorers like Dominik Bokk, Maxi Kammerer and Daniel Schmölz and was criticized for it. He put NHL professional Peterka on the bench against Austria in the last third because he “couldn’t develop his game that well”. In short: district demonstrated sovereignty. Success proves him right. Despite three defeats at the start, the team did not disappoint him. The minimum target quarterfinals has been exceeded, Olympic qualification for 2026 ticked off.
“You can’t order it. You can only hope that a team finds itself in the dressing room,” said Kreis. “That she so developed a spirit, which makes me very happy.” Captain Moritz Müller said beforehand that it would take time to get involved with each other after the successes with Kreis’ predecessors Marco Sturm and Toni Söderholm. Now he stated: “We have grown close together in the short Time. There are no egos, the team spirit comes first.”
Four examples, first and foremost: Nico Sturm, NHL pro, Stanley Cup winner. Against Switzerland, a puck hit the 28-year-old in the knee, Sturm continued to work despite the pain. “In the last ten minutes I didn’t feel my legs at all,” said the man from Augsburg. “I just blew some energy gels.” With six tournament goals, Sturm is the internal top scorer. What is possible now? “Everything.”
Or Peterka, 21, the third-best scorer in the tournament with five goals and five assists: “My pulse was over 200, it was incredible how everyone really threw themselves into every shot, sometimes in twos, threes, and what Mathias did pulled out.” Mathias, last name Niederberger, the German goalkeeper and the backbone of the team in critical situations. He says: “I like it when things get uncomfortable. If others give up, I can dig a little deeper and get more out of it.” Or Kai Wissmann, the inconspicuous defender: At the World Cup a year ago, he surprised with seven points. He would “take it again,” he said – now he’s already at nine despite initial difficulties. The list could be continued with each of the 25 names.
So now: semifinals, Saturday, 5:20 p.m., against the USA. Why is it going better this time than the 2-3 in the group stage? “Because we offensively put pinpricks and can drive the opponent crazy,” says Niederberger. Because “everyone works for each other,” says Peterka, and “there are enough guys who know how it felt” two years ago, when they were the better team in the semifinals against eventual world champions Finland (1-2) and the next day they lost 6-1 to the USA in the third-place play-off. That’s right, says Moritz Müller, who wept bitterly at the time, there are still a few from back then: “And I think the others also want to win.”
It’s best to take it easy like Harold Kreis, who takes everything as it comes. What, 70 years without a World Cup medal for Germany? “Okay, then it’s about time again.” Dinner is served.
