World Cup quarterfinals ahead
DEB team slaps Hungary properly
5/21/2023, 5:49 p.m
Third win in a row at the World Cup in Finland and Latvia: The German ice hockey stars played well against Hungary and clinched a clear victory. This means that the quarter-finals are within reach – and the direct ticket for the 2026 Olympics could also be solved.
After the third win in a row, the German national ice hockey players have the quarter-finals of the World Cup right in front of their eyes. After initial difficulties, the team of national coach Harold Kreis defeated newly promoted Hungary 7:2 (1:0, 3:0, 3:2) in the penultimate group game and climbed to fourth place in Group A.
Ingolstadt’s Wojciech Stachowiak (8th), NHL professionals Moritz Seider (36th), Stanley Cup winner Nico Sturm (36th, 38th) and John-Jason Peterka (43rd) and Swiss legionnaire Dominik Kahun (51st) and Berlin’s Jonas Müller (59th) scored the goals for the selection of the German Ice Hockey Federation (DEB) in front of 4821 spectators in Tampere. Istvan Terbocs (47th) and Nandor Fejes (49th) scored for Hungary, who were threatened with relegation.
The last opponent in the preliminary round is France on Tuesday (11.20 a.m. CEST/Sport1 and MagentaSport). With the entry into the knockout round, the German team could in the best case already buy the direct ticket for the 2026 Olympics.
The fourth row, which had already shone in the 4:2 win against Austria, provided the lead. Stachowiak scored a margin to make it 1-0. “Two or three more goals would have been nice,” said defender Leon Gawanke after the first third, in which the DEB selection recorded 15 shots on goal, but again revealed weaknesses in the exploitation of chances. In the second round, Munich’s Maksymilian Szuber received a match penalty for hitting his opponent in the head with his elbow. When Seider also had to go to the penalty box, the German team played 3:5 outnumbered – the puck also landed in the net to make it supposedly 1:1, but the equalizer was not recognized due to a Hungarian foul (28th).
With Peterka the knot bursts
A double strike ensured the decision: NHL professionals Seider and Sturm shot out a reassuring lead within 18 seconds, and Sturm increased it to 4-0 a little later. “We’re playing a little too complicated,” criticized defender Fabio Wagner, “we can’t take our foot off the accelerator.”
Then the knot also burst at Peterka, whom Kreis had let stew on the bench in the last third on Friday against the relegation candidate. The 21-year-old was “not able to develop his game like that,” explained the national coach. Peterka, originally intended as a World Cup scorer after a strong debut season with the Buffalo Sabers, had suffered many puck losses that led to counterattacks.
He took the compulsory break “professionally”, said Kreis after the voluntary training the next day, in which the young star did not take part. He “also saw” the criticism. On Sunday Peterka was back in the parade line with Swiss legionnaire Dominik Kahun and Munich’s Frederik Tiffels – and scored again at the beginning of the final section.