The German runners-up received a lesson at the Ice Hockey World Championships in the Czech Republic. National coach Harold Kreis’ team suffered a bitter 1:6 (0:2, 1:2, 0:2) against the USA in the second preliminary round game on Saturday.
28 hours after the opening 6-4 win over Olympic third-placed Slovakia, Germany suffered its first setback. Only Yasin Ehliz (35th) scored for the DEB team in front of a good 9,000 spectators in the Ostravar Arena, including a good 3,000 German fans.
“We can do a few things better: We can play with more self-confidence – we had too much respect for the Americans,” said Colin Ugbekile to Sportschau after the defeat, “but the Americans did very well, played very cleanly. That We have to look at it again.” “The result was too high for our liking,” said national coach Harold Kreis, “the team showed a lot of effort. What was frustrating for me was how little share of the game we had over the 60 minutes.”
US team significantly stronger
Brady Tkachuk (13th), Michael Kesselring (18th), Johnny Gaudreau in the power play (33rd), Luke Hughes (40th), Trevor Zegras (51st) and Michael Eyssimont (53rd) scored the goals for the Americans, who took impressive revenge for the semi-final defeat in Tampere.
With a 4-3 win after extra time thanks to Frederik Tiffels’ winning goal, the DEB team sensationally reached the final last year. In the preliminary round there was a 2:3.
With 22 NHL professionals around Tkachuk, Gaudreau and Zegras, the US team is significantly stronger this year. The next German opponent on Monday (May 13, 2024, 8:20 p.m.) is the eleven-time world champion Sweden, who defeated the Americans 5-2 at the start.
Germany without three runners-up world champions
Germany had to do without NHL attacker Nico Sturm and defenders Maksymilian Szuber and Fabio Wagner. The DEB did not want to reveal why the three vice world champions were missing. The district nominated Maximilian Kastner and Colin Ugbekile.
NHL striker Lukas Reichel, who arrived in Ostrava on Friday evening and was on the ice for the first time on Saturday morning, was still sitting in the stands. The 21-year-old from the Chicago Blackhawks should play against Sweden. Joshua Samanski from Straubing had to make room for him.
Niederberger for Grubauer
NHL goalie Philipp Grubauer, who stopped 35 shots against Slovakia, was given a break. Mathias Niederberger stood for him between the posts. The Munich player had to defuse the first American goal chance after just a few seconds. On the other side, Wojciech Stachowiak was unlucky when he hit the post (7th). The DEB team then became more courageous and put the NHL team in trouble.
However, the USA took the lead: Tkachuk deflected a shot from Kesselring unstoppably. At 0-2, Niederberger let the people in front of them down. Alexander Ehl (24th) and Ehliz (25th) missed great chances to connect.
USA dominant
The Americans had to replace injured NHL goaltender Alex Lyon with college goalie Trey Augustine in the second period. They remained more effective on offense: Gaudreau used the first power play to make it 3-0. Sturm was missing from the first three goals conceded: his previous attack line conceded two and he was also missing from the outnumbered formation. After the first German goal, the score was 1:4 three seconds before the third siren.
At the beginning of the last 20 minutes, the German team reared up again. But Team USA quickly regained control.
Latvia avoids embarrassment
Latvia barely avoided embarrassment. 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).
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-talented Bedard makes a big impression
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.
