Under pressure early on in the World Cup
Germany’s ice hockey men are only just defeated by Finland
05/13/2023 9:56 p.m
Hosts and top favorite Finland turned out to be an extremely tough nut to crack, but the German national ice hockey team kept up for long stretches of the game. Despite the increase in performance, the DEB selection must finally score in the other games.
Second game, second defeat: Germany’s national ice hockey team is under pressure early on in the World Cup. The selection of the new national coach Harold Kreis lost against defending champion and host Finland 3:4 (1:1, 2:2, 0:1). In front of 11,712 spectators in the sold-out hall in Tampere, a dedicated performance was not rewarded again. Goals from Marcel Noebels (18th minute) from the Eisbären Berlin, Kai Wissmann (33rd) from the Providence Bruins from the AHL and NHL striker John-Jason Peterka (40th) from the Buffalo Sabers were not enough. Joel Armia (10th) from the Montreal Canadiens, Sakari Manninen (35th/36th) from the Henderson Silver Nights from the AHL and Mikko Lehtonen (53rd) from the ZSC Lions Zurich scored for the favourite.
Despite two convincing performances, Germany is still without a point. On Friday, the DEB selection had lost 1-0 to the eleven-time world champion Sweden. Germany is also on Monday (3:20 p.m./Sport1 and magenta) again outsiders against the USA. It is still unclear whether defender Leon Gawanke will be able to play. The future Mannheimer is expected in Tampere on Sunday after his team Manitoba Moose from the second-rate North American professional league AHL lost the playoff.
Only after the game against the USA does Germany play games against easier opponents or opponents who seem to be on an equal footing. If at least the first World Cup point is not achieved on Monday, the district team would be under a lot of pressure in the following four games against Denmark, Austria, Hungary and France in order to still reach the minimum goal of the quarter-finals.
Unlike on Friday, when a possible surprise was carelessly given away, the German team was under constant pressure early on on Saturday. “It’s very, very bitter. Of course you can talk to yourself that it was only 0-1,” striker Dominik Kahun scolded after the opening defeat and warned against Finland, who even lost 1-4 against the USA at the start had: “Of course the Finns have more pressure because they lost today. They will come all the harder.”
That’s exactly how it was. The defending champion and again the top favorite for the World Cup shot from all positions at the German goal, this time guarded by Dustin Strahlmeier. On the other hand, Mathias Niederberger, who had shown a strong performance on Friday, was on the bench due to the game being played again just 24 hours later.
The German defense put up a fight, especially in the person of exceptional defender Moritz Seider from the Detroit Red Wings. But after ten minutes, a blunder by Strahlmeier, who slipped a shot through the glove, gave Finland the deserved lead. Germany’s first World Cup goal just before the end of the first third came out of nowhere. A Noebels shot deflected twice by Finnish players brought the lucky equaliser.
“That was very important. Especially for our heads, to show ourselves that we can score goals,” said captain Moritz Müller in the first third break at Sport1. “We gained confidence after the goal.” In fact, this could also be felt on the ice. A strong phase in the middle section crowned North American pro Wissmann with his shot to take the lead. This only irritated the loudly supported Finns even more. A double strike from AHL forward Manninen put the Suomi team back in front before a manpower goal from NHL youngster Peterka leveled again just before the end of the period. In the meantime, however, the 3: 3 for Germany was deserved. After falling behind again, the outsider did not come back.