Brutal check and penalty annoyance: a game that just annoys Germany

Thursday, May 27, 2021

Brutal check and penalty annoyance
A game that just annoys Germany

By Tobias Nordmann

Don’t think too much about ice hockey now! With this plan, the German national team will start the game-free Thursday at the World Cup in Latvia. The unexpected setback should be made up for against the home country of national coach Söderholm.

Oh, it’s kind of the classic. So not the game itself. Ice hockey duels between Germany and Kazakhstan were seldom or never legendary. And the game on this Wednesday evening did not pave the way to the classic Olympus. From a German point of view this was not (only) due to the 2: 3 defeat in the preliminary round of the World Cup, which slows down the euphoria that arose after the gigantic coup against, one has to say, the still puzzling “Team Canada”. No, this game was just annoying from a German point of view. The rather missed last third contributed a lot to the frustration, as did several decisions by the referees who did not seem confident. And they dragged on for almost the entire season.

In the sixth minute, for example, a tough check against Ivan Stepanenko’s head against Lukas Reichel went unpunished. The 19-year-old, who is considered the next German NHL star, crashed onto the ice, but quickly recovered. But he never returned. “I’m not going to take any risks,” said national coach Toni Söderholm later and gave the referees a good deal: “It is now the third head check against our players in four games. It doesn’t help that a player is subsequently suspended becomes.” The coach was reminded of the last World Cup two years ago. Moritz Seider, who was only 18 years old at the time, was badly knocked out against host Slovakia. He was three games missing. How it is with Reichel is still unclear. “We have to see how he’s doing and then analyze in peace,” said Söderholm briefly.

Now the top talent from the Eisbären Berlin does not yet have the indispensable status that Seider had back then. Nevertheless, he has already enriched the game of the Germans. His steal and a subsequent goal against Norway prompted the Twitter editors of the international ice hockey association to write the euphoric post: “Lukas Reichel is a bad, bad man.” The fact that the action against Reichel went completely unpunished not only outraged the German coach, Sport1 expert Rick Goldmann, who used to be a national player himself, complained: “That was a blindside hit! For me a clear wrong decision – actually one should give great punishment. “

Clear penalty, but penalty?

In fact, see above, it wasn’t the only decision that was extremely controversial. So also the scene that caused the game to tip in the wrong direction from a German point of view. Shortly after the second third break, captain Moritz Müller got Roman Starchenko off his feet after a positional error. The penalty, indisputable. The penalty, absolutely controversial. After all, the Cologne man had not prevented a clear scoring chance with his action, another player could have intervened. Well, Kazakhstan did not miss the chance. “We’re trying not to focus on bad decisions,” said goal scorer Markus Eisenschmid. “It is not in our hands, we are not referees,” added Seider.

The bitterest punch line that evening followed in minute 56: Because defender Marcel Brandt stumbled on his own blue line and thus cleared the way for Pavel Akolzin, the first defeat was in the fourth group game. This may be put into perspective by the knowledge that the Eastern Europeans had previously shocked hosts Latvia and defending champions Finland in the penalty shootout. But does it make them more bearable? Probably not.

Because despite the furious start with the spectacular victories against Italy (9: 4) and Norway (5: 1) as well as the historic success against Canada, Germany now has to fear for the quarter-finals again. Even if the starting position is still great. One win from the next three games is enough to reach the round of the top eight. However, the tasks are tough: on Saturday it’s against Finland, followed by the duels with the USA and Latvia, which have so far been very convincing. What then has to get better: “The tough duel with the disc is definitely a point,” criticized the national coach.

In fact, the Germans were apparently impressed by the extremely strong defensive Kazakhs. The attacking game, which had worked so well so far, stuttered, and sometimes even came to a standstill. “We lacked a bit of quality in the playful element. We have to improve there,” analyzed Söderholm. “We have to solve situations on the blue line more cleverly,” he also demanded: “We weren’t efficient today, that cost us energy.” It should now be refueled – away from the ice: The players should not think about their sport on this Thursday. “There is a destination that is now part of the Bubble. We’ll see if the weather is right if we can go on a short excursion,” said Söderholm.