DGermany’s national ice hockey team is still learning the hard way at the World Championships and, after the third defeat in the third game, is under enormous pressure early on. Another strong performance on Monday in the 2: 3 (0: 0, 2: 1, 0: 2) against the USA again resulted in no points. Goals from Samuel Soramies (31st minute) from the Augsburg Panthers outnumbered and Justin Schütz (40th) from the German champions EHC Red Bull Munich were not enough. AHL pro Ronnie Attard (26th), Sean Farrell of the Montreal Canadiens (46th) and Matt Coronato of the Calgary Flames (55th) scored for the favored US team.
Previously, the selection of national coach Harold Kreis had already lost against the title favorites Sweden (0:1) and Finland (3:4). After the tough opening program and two days without games, Germany must now win against Denmark on Thursday (7.20 p.m. / Sport1 and MagentaSport) in order to keep the chance of reaching the quarter-finals.
Contacting Draisaitl?
It is still unclear whether the selection of the German Ice Hockey Federation will be strengthened by NHL star Leon Draisaitl at the end of the week. The 27-year-old world-class player was eliminated with his Edmonton Oilers in the NHL playoffs on Sunday (local time) and could now travel to Finland afterwards. DEB sports director Christian Künast left open on the sidelines of the game against the USA whether contact had already been made. “If there is anything to report, we will report it,” Künast said before the game at MagentaSport. “There are a lot of things to do. We are very meticulous in the background. We are prepared for anything.”
The German team could use Draisaitl’s attack power. The German team also found it difficult to score goals against the USA, despite significantly more shots on goal than in the past. In the NHL season that has now ended for him, exceptional striker Draisaitl collected a total of 146 points and would be the world’s biggest star at his first World Cup in four years.
After the two unfortunate defeats at the start, the DEB selection also took psychological help from a mental trainer. Something had to change in terms of personnel. As announced, national coach Kreis changed the offensive lines somewhat. In addition, Manuel Wiederer played for the first time in this tournament. The Berlin striker replaced Daniel Fischbuch from Düsseldorf, who had also been disappointing up to now. Leon Gawanke, who only arrived in Tampere on Sunday, was used in defense for the first time after his playoff exit with Manitoba Moose in the North American AHL.
The changes worked, Germany started very superior. The DEB selection hit the crossbar a few times but not into the net. Germany also acted too unluckily in several outnumbered games. The Americans, on the other hand, immediately had significantly more shots on target in their first majority situation in the second third and also took the lead. Defender Kai Wissmann unluckily deflected an actually harmless shot into his own net.
Ironically, in the next game with a man down, the overdue first German goal finally came: Soramies completed an energetic advance from captain Moritz Müller to equalize. Four seconds before the end of the middle section, the fourth row, which has been remarkably strong in this tournament so far, took the lead. The 22-year-old Munich Schütz tipped the puck into the net in a solo effort on the US goal.
In the final third, the USA then put more pressure and turned the game into a very fortunate victory thanks to NHL pros Farrell and Coronato.
