AWednesday was travel day for the German team at the Ice Hockey World Championship. From Tampere (Finland) to Riga (Latvia): less than an hour flight time. Not a big event in itself, the players are all used to travel, especially those who earn their money in North America, where you’ll be on the ice in New York today and Toronto tomorrow. The only problem was that until late Tuesday evening nobody knew where the quarter-finals against Switzerland would be played on Thursday (3:20 p.m./Sport 1 and MagentaSport). As planned in Riga? Or in Tampere?
The world association IIHF kept it a secret for a long time, not even the German Ice Hockey Federation (DEB) knew more about it. The IIHF reserves the right to change the plan at short notice. It was only after 11 p.m. that the message came that the plane would be ready the next day. So everything as usual: The winner of group B (Switzerland) stays at his place, the fourth of group A (Germany) has to travel.
“We stick together”
But no one at DEB got nervous about it. It probably wouldn’t even have bothered if the game had been moved to Zurich or Bern at short notice. From the audience’s point of view, it will be an away game anyway, the Swiss will be accompanied by thousands of fans in Riga, while the German supporters will not be willing to travel this year. But that doesn’t bother anyone either. Nor that the Swiss made the strongest impression of any team in the first two weeks of the World Cup: seven games, six wins. The only defeat came on the last match day when various top players sat outside because first place was already certain. As a result, the Swiss are favorites, says national coach Harold Kreis, but he also says: “They will definitely not dictate the game. We’ll compete against them on an equal footing.”
Prestige duel: Germany and Switzerland at the 2022 World Cup, when Switzerland won the preliminary round
:
Image: Imago
This is not an individual opinion. Admittedly, praise from the German camp for the Confederates can be heard: “They won the group, they have an outstanding team. They have the big goal of becoming world champion,” says Dominik Kahun, who knows Swiss ice hockey first hand and plays for SC Bern. But even he does not freeze in awe. “We stick together – that decides such games.”
“White Ballet”
The fact that it’s not just a matter of playful class is what they pull themselves up at the DEB. Not that they would belittle their abilities after four wins in a row, especially since defender Moritz Seider, the hard-working and dangerous Nico Sturm or the quick and tricky JJ Peterka meet higher demands. Goalkeeper Mathias Niederberger also ran hot in time for the decisive phase, in the last three group games he didn’t even concede two goals on average. And yet: In a man-to-man comparison, the Swiss are ahead and have been able to move significantly more personnel from the NHL to the World Cup: Nico Hischier, Kevin Fiala, Nino Niederreiter, Jonas Siegenthaler, Janis Moser, Denis Malgin. There are also experienced players from their own league such as Gaëtan Haas, goalkeeper Leonardo Genoni or the eternal Andres Ambühl.
Now you don’t have to get out of the saddle when you see this team, as some Swiss media do, which rave about the “best World Cup squad in history” and the “white ballet”. But that the Swiss could be next after their two silver medals in 2013 and 2018 is not a bold thought – especially since the conditions seem more favorable than ever: Canadians and Swedes have fewer stars, the Finns don’t seem quite up to par, the Russians are excluded.
Why the Germans still believe in themselves and their chances: “It’s not a play-off series, it’s 60 minutes. On a good day you can even manage a little surprise,” says Marcel Noebels, who was mainly responsible for the fact that things went exactly like this two years ago. Back then, the arch-rivals faced each other in Riga in the quarter-finals of the World Cup, and the Swiss were also considered favorites back then, but in the end the Germans cheered because they equalized shortly before the end and Noebels then unpacked an art shot in the penalty shootout. Not the only victory in a knockout duel: the Germans also won the 2010 World Cup, as well as the 2018 Olympics. “Of course you have that in your head,” says Captain Moritz Müller, “they will have it in your head too.”
The Swiss will definitely do that, even if they won the group stage at last year’s World Cup. Especially since defeats against Germany are particularly painful because they see themselves on a different level: stronger league, more NHL players, almost always better World Cup preliminary rounds. But in direct duels they regularly lose out. So Noebels is certain: “The Swiss are definitely not happy that the German is standing in front of him again.” JJ Peterka relies on the psychological factor: “If you mentally drag them down a bit, it can work out.”
