The German national ice hockey players looked worn out as they trudged through the interview zone of the arena in Ostrau on Thursday evening. Moritz Müller had blood on his face, JJ Peterka was limping, Nico Sturm spoke of “two or three injuries” that he now had to recover from. The others were also looking forward to their summer break after a long season.
But of course this 1:3 defeat in the World Cup quarter-final against Switzerland still hurt. Basically because things had always worked out against the arch rivals recently. And especially because the Germans were disappointing in the first 30 minutes. They had a total of six shots on goal.
They were “too hesitant, too timid” at first, said Sturm, “it took a while before we realized that we could play a full part here.” Captain Müller sounded similar: “A little too much respect at the beginning, a little too much distance from the opponent, and then we fell behind our start.” This was of course also down to the Swiss team, including NHL stars Roman Josi, Nico Hischier and Kevin Fiala. Unlike in previous years, they did not collapse when they conceded their first goal. So they are now in the semifinals on Saturday (6.20 p.m.) in Prague against Canada, before that (2.20 p.m.) the Czech Republic will face Sweden.
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The Germans, on the other hand, left on Friday. They were not in a particularly good mood, but they had achieved the “minimum goal” (national coach Harold Kreis) by surviving the group phase, and there is “no subscription to the quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals,” said Kreis. Especially not in a year in which numerous NHL stars have traveled.
The Swiss could even afford to leave Philipp Kurashev of the Chicago Blackhawks out in the quarterfinals. While the Germans – with five NHL pros in their squad – had to do without several top players. Kreis did not want to accept this as an excuse, but it was obvious that the gap to the top teams was larger again this time.
Base and tip are getting wider
The DEB team moved between worlds in Ostrava. It had no chance against the Swedes and Americans, at least not against Switzerland at the beginning. But it dominated against Latvia, Kazakhstan and Poland, and the French were no real challenge either. And that fits in with German ice hockey in 2024.
The base and the top are becoming ever broader, but just because it has made it to three semifinals and two finals at the Olympics and World Championships since 2018 does not mean that it is now among the absolute world elite. Because none of the past tournaments have really featured the best of the best from the NHL.
That is not the case in the Czech Republic either, although significantly more stars have come again. But the real comparison will only come in 2026 at the Olympic Games in Milan. The first major international tournament since 2014, for which the NHL is taking a break. Leon Draisaitl, Moritz Seider and Tim Stützle will also be there then. “If we can squeeze Leon, Mo and Stützi in, we don’t have to hide from anyone,” said Nico Sturm on Thursday. That was not the case in the Czech Republic. So the tournament ended for the German team before the final weekend.
