The German national ice hockey team gave France no chance on Tuesday (May 21, 2024) at the end of the World Cup group phase. As against Latvia (8:1) and Kazakhstan (8:2), Germany’s offensive was particularly convincing.
The DEB team ultimately won confidently against the French 6:3 (1:1, 2:3, 0:2); in the meantime, national coach Harold Kreis’ team had equalized three French leads.
Who awaits the runner-up world champion in the quarter-finals on Thursday will only be determined after the final group games on Tuesday evening. Canada, hosts Czech Republic or Switzerland from Group A are the possible opponents.
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Stachowiak with Doppelpack
Wojciech Stachowiak (32nd minute/42nd), Marc Michaelis (20th), Lukas Kälble (26th), Maxi Kastner (33rd) and Lukas Reichel (45th) scored for the German team and also set a record. Never before has a selection of the German Ice Hockey Association (DEB) managed to score 34 goals in the preliminary round at a World Championship. The previous record was 30 goals at the 1992 World Championship.
“It was a game about nothing for us,” said Stachowiak later at the Sportschau microphone, “but we wanted to do everything right so that we could take a lot of self-confidence with us into the quarter-finals.” “The French are aggressive and vehement out of the starting blocks. We had a bit of trouble intercepting that,” said national coach Harold Kreis critically, “but we did better in the second third and we did it right in the second half of the second third well done.”
The fifth quarter-final in a row was already certain before the first face-off on Tuesday morning with four wins against Slovakia, Latvia, Kazakhstan and Poland. However, in view of the hot World Cup phase from Thursday, Kreis did not want to change or rest a player.
France is playing well
Like group winners Sweden the day before, the DEB selection also had some problems for a long time against the unpleasantly playing French. Individual performances from Stachowiak, Jonas Müller and NHL striker JJ Peterka failed because of the good French goalkeeper Quentin Papillon.
On the other hand, NHL goalie Philipp Grubauer from the Seattle Kraken also had to show his class a few times. When the French counterattacked perfectly, the Rosenheimer was also powerless: Valentin Claireaux confidently converted to make it 0-1 (17th). Michaelis equalized 56 seconds before the end of the first third. It was the third goal of the tournament for the Neu-Mannheim player.
Middle third with offensive power on both sides
Even though nothing was at stake for the French, coach Philippe Bozon’s team was in the mood to play. In a wild middle period, the French took the lead through long-time DEL striker Anthony Rech (21st) and Sacha Treille (27th). Kälble with his third goal in Ostrava (26th) and Stachowiak (32nd) equalized. After Kastner’s goal just 22 seconds later, the German team was ahead 4-3 for the first time. Two more German goals by Peterka and Leonhard Pföderl were taken back after video study.
In the final third, the district team showed their recent desire to score goals. Stachowiak with his two goals (42nd) and NHL striker Reichel from the Chicago Blackhawks (45th) quickly increased the score to 6:3. Only the exclusion after a board check for Frederik Tiffels shortly before the end marred the fifth success in the seventh preliminary round game. The Berliner could even be banned for the quarter-finals.
