6 against USA and worries about Nico Sturm

The German national ice hockey team suffered two setbacks at the World Cup. The 2023 World Cup runners-up lost their second group game in Ostrava, Czech Republic on Saturday against co-favorites USA 1:6 (0:2, 1:2, 0:2). Even worse than the first tournament defeat is a possible loss of NHL professional Nico Sturm. The San José Sharks striker was missing. “We’ll get it fixed again. It’s a long tournament,” said national coach Harold Kreis about Sturm’s injury.

In addition to Sturm, national coach Kreis was also unavailable the day after the spectacular 6-4 win against Slovakia. Maksymilian Szuber and Fabio Wagner were also unavailable. It is not known whether and for how long the trio will be out. Lukas Reichel was also not used yet. The 21-year-old NHL striker from the Chicago Blackhawks only joined the team on Friday evening and is expected to be on the ice for the first time on Monday against Sweden for the German Ice Hockey Association’s selection.

Then the German team will need an improvement. “The boys tried hard, but today wasn’t our best day,” said the national coach after the rebuff against the USA at ProSieben. “The result is a bit too high. We made it too easy for the Americans, we have to look at that,” said captain Moritz Müller.

Germany has the first chance

Kreis voluntarily gave up keeper Philipp Grubauer from the Seattle Kraken after the opening game. However, the DEB selection has a good replacement in Mathias Niederberger. The goalie from EHC Red Bull Munich was challenged several times by the Americans right from the start. However, Germany missed their first big chance to take the lead: a shot from Wojciech Stachowiak hit the post (8th).

The Americans, who had 19 NHL players, were not unsettled by the good German phase. Brady Tkachuk from the Ottawa Senators deflected a shot from Michael Kesselring unstoppable for Niederberger to make it 0-1 (13th). The German goalkeeper was there again and again afterwards, but the 31-year-old was powerless against the individual class of the US boys. With a fine individual performance, Kesselring from the Arizona Coyotes increased the score for the star ensemble (18th). Coach John Hynes’ team disappointed at the start of the World Cup with a 5-2 defeat against Sweden.

As in the first round, the DEB selection failed to take advantage of the available opportunities. US defender Alex Vlasic saved on the line after several German attempts, and Berlin’s Jonas Müller’s follow-up shot hit the crossbar (24th). Yasin Ehliz failed a little later due to Trey Augustine. The 19-year-old from Michigan State University came to the US team for the ailing Lyon.

After Johnny Gaudreau’s 3-0 lead, everything looked like a clear American success (33′). But Ehliz was able to reduce the deficit just two minutes later with his first goal of the tournament. “Here we go,” sang around 3,000 German fans in Ostrava. Three seconds before the end of the second period, however, the Americans scored again: Luke Hughes made it 1:4. In the final section the German team had nothing to add. The US boys played their class, Trevor Zeagras (51st) and Michael Eyssimont (53rd) ensured the final score.

Latvia averts embarrassment – ​​Bedard comes up trumps

Latvia barely avoided embarrassment at the Ice Hockey World Cup. Last year’s third-place team only prevailed in extra time in their first preliminary round game in German Group B on Saturday after a long deficit against newly promoted Poland 5:4 (0:1, 1:1, 3:2, 1:0).

Kaspars Daugavins scored the victory after 3:29 minutes in overtime. In the fight for the quarter-finals, the Latvians, who compete without goalkeeper and last year’s MVP Arturs Silovs, only got two points instead of the planned three points thanks to their victory in overtime. Poland, on the other hand, missed out on their first success at a World Cup since 1989 when they beat West Germany.

Kazakhstan had previously beaten France 3-1 (2-1, 1-0, 0-0) in Group B. Super talent Connor Bedard played really well in Group A. The NHL’s number one draft pick scored twice in his World Cup debut in Canada’s 4:2 (1:1, 3:0, 0:1) win over Great Britain and gave the defending champion and record world champion a perfect start.

The hosts stay on track. After a difficult start, the Czech Republic beat Norway 6:3 (2:3, 1:0, 3:0) and celebrated their second win in the second game. Denmark also won confidently against Austria 5:1 (2:1, 1:0, 2:0). The DEL professionals Felix Scheel (Bremerhaven), Frederik Storm (Cologne) and Markus Lauridsen (Frankfurt) each scored once for the Scandinavians. (dpa)