The first WC medal since 1953 is certain, now the first WC title should be here. The German ice hockey team is also counting on the odds against Canada in the final.
For the first time in 93 years, the German national team reached the final of the World Ice Hockey Championship.
With a shocking 4:3 after extra time in the semifinals against United States of America National coach Harold Kreis’ team at Tampere in Finland have finally secured their first WC medal since 1953. Now the WC title will be in the final. “The goal now is definitely to beat Canada. We want to beat them,” Eisbären Berlin defender Jonas Müller told Magenta Sport.
It talks about Germany’s first World Cup win
National coach Harold Kreis’ team has nothing to lose, at least they are already in second place in the world. “Tomorrow our feet will be very light and we will go into the game with great anticipation. The feeling of coming home with a medal is amazing,” said Germany’s best player at the World Cup, Nico Sturm of NHL San Jose Haier.
In addition, there is the will of a team which is not made up of the best individual players, but which is always convincing as a unit. Oppose Switzerland In the quarter-finals, a penalty for a misplay against Germany’s top defender Moritz Seider was overturned. Germany came back against the US after an initial 0:2 and then 2:3. After three early defeats to the World Cup, progress in an all-or-nothing match against Denmark was on the line. Since then six wins in a row. “We have learned to go through stages where things are not so good. We have an advantage over the other teams in the tournament,” said Stanley Cup winner Sturm.
The trust in the team is huge. In recent years, the belief in winning medals in major tournaments has always been there. At least since the silver medal at the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang. “The key to success is believing you can play with good players. Several decades ago, the fight was not lost on the ice, but in the locker room. It’s different now,” said captain Moritz Müller. “We have matured as children and as a team. And mature enough now to say that we also want to be world champions.”
This speaks for Canada
Canada, along with currently-banned Russia, are a record world champion with 27 titles and could once again crown themselves the only record champions with another success on Sunday. This is Canada’s seventh World Cup final since 2015. The list of favorites is clearly divided. Of course, Germany is just an outsider.
21 of the 23 players on the Canadian roster play in the NHL. Germany only has three players from the strongest league in the world.
Canada is always featured most of the time in games that count. In the preliminary round, Canada lost to Switzerland and Norway immediately after extra time. In the final match of the preliminary round against the Czech Republic, they managed to win again against the Czech Republic (3:1), otherwise Canada would only reach the quarter-finals as fourth in the group. In the knockout game, it’s 4:1 clear against reigning champions Finland. In the semifinals, Canada trailed 2-1 after two thirds against outsiders Latvia, then won 4-2 in the end.
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