They can currently experience drama at the German Ice Hockey Association (DEB). No matter which national team played a World Cup in the recent past, it rarely happened without an increased heart rate. In 2022, the women scored the decisive goal to stay in the A group exactly 0.1 seconds before the end of their last game.
In 2023, it was the men who prevailed in a nerve-wracking extra time in the semi-finals and secured their first World Cup medal in 70 years. On Thursday it was the U20’s turn. The decisive game also went into overtime for them. Only it wasn’t a semi-final, it was relegation. And there Norway’s top talent Michael Brandsegg-Nygard suddenly appeared free in front of the German goal, but hit over the puck.
In return, Moritz Elias did better. He went around all his opponents and didn’t find a pass-off point, but then he “just went for it,” as he said afterwards. Elias said this in a good mood because his shot landed in the corner. 5:4 for Germany, staying in the class secured.
Not an easy task
Things went well again for the DEB, who is currently going through a strange phase. The men’s national team is probably stronger than ever in its history, the ice hockey world respectfully notes that the football nation Germany is now also winning medals on the ice – and is producing stars like Leon Draisaitl, Moritz Seider and Tim Stützle, who are successful in the North American professional league NHL.
But there is a problem with the young generation. There are no new top talents in sight, the U18s were relegated from the A-WM last year, and now the oldest youth team is also threatened with that. Then the U20 would have had to compete against South Korea and Hungary at the B World Cup in the future, and no longer against Canadians, Americans, Swedes or Finns.
“We are happy to have kept the class,” said DEB sports director Christian Künast. Now it’s time to analyze the tournament in Gothenburg and “further develop the young German talent”. But it’s not that easy for the association.
Above all, there is a lack of choice; according to the world association IIHF, 13,527 young people are currently playing ice hockey in Germany, even in small Finland there are almost three times as many, and in Canada there are even more than 350,000. But there are also almost 3,000 ice rinks and even more outdoor spaces. According to the DEB, only 170 halls are still in operation in Germany.
In addition, the domestic U-20 league is too weak because the best talents go abroad or are already needed by the professionals. There are rules for U-23 (DEL) or U-21 (DEL2) players. Well-intentioned decisions that oblige teams to rely on young talent.
Team sells well
But often it’s just there to fill up the gap because the coaches always care more about the next game than long-term development. In the current DEL season, only two U-20 players have at least ten minutes of ice time per game: Roman Kechter (Nuremberg) and Veit Oswald (Munich), Moritz Elias (Augsburg) has at least 9:46 minutes. The rest mostly sit on the bench – and cannot develop.
So it was not surprising that Kechter, Oswald and Elias were now the top German strikers in Gothenburg. There were also Julian Lutz and Luca Hauf, who play in North America. The team even sold well, surprisingly beating Finland 4:3 at the start, holding their own against Sweden (0:5) and Canada (3:6), and it only became clear at the end.
Bernd Schwickerath Published/Updated: Recommendations: 3 Valentin Teufel Published/Updated: Marcel Noebels Published/Updated: Recommendations: 2
“We had a good group phase with three good games against Finland, Sweden and Canada,” said national coach Tobias Abstreiter, “unfortunately we couldn’t find the right attitude in the decisive game.” There was a 2-6 defeat against Latvia, which is why the Germans They came last and had to go into the relegation round against Norway. It almost went wrong there too, but they can do drama at the DEB at the moment.
