In a hard-fought game, the Colorado Avalanche made themselves the Stanley Cup winners early - and thus lifted their striker Nico Sturm into an exclusive club: only five Germans were able to secure the most important trophy in ice hockey.
Nico Sturm from Augsburg won the Stanley Cup in the National Hockey League with the Colorado Avalanche. The team from Denver won the sixth game of the final series against defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday evening (local time) 2-1 (0-1, 2-0, 0-0) and thus the decisive fourth win. Sturm is only the fifth German professional ice hockey player to win the huge trophy for the NHL championship. Most recently, national goalkeeper Philipp Grubauer succeeded in winning the Washington Capitals title in 2018.
"All the feelings you can imagine," said Avalanche coach Jared Bednar. "I'm just so happy and so proud of these guys and what they've accomplished here. To see them being rewarded for all their hard work is hard to describe. There's a sense of relief, a sense of Satisfaction. It's not quite clear yet. When the buzzer rang, there was almost disbelief that we'd made it. It's been an incredible journey and I'm just grateful to be able to be a part of this with this team."
For the Avalanche it is the third title in its history and the first in 21 years. In Tampa, the hosts took the lead through captain Steven Stamkos. Nathan MacKinnon equalized with his second goal in the final series, Artturi Lehkonen also scored in the second period to make it 2-1. The Avalanche used their second match point after the defending champion from Florida was able to extend the series again at the weekend with a 3:2.
"It's a feeling of disbelief. It's hard to describe. To see all these warriors fight, it feels incredible. Words can't describe what I'm feeling," MacKinnon said on US television. "The core of this group has been here for ten years. It's incredible. It's so incredible."
Nico Sturm, born and educated in Augsburg, trained at Clarkson University in Potsdam/New York, has only been playing for the Avalanche for three months. The German striker was on the ice for 5:43 minutes in the last game of the final series. The huge trophy will also come to Germany after winning the title in the summer: according to old tradition, the trophy can be brought home by each player for one day.
The Lightning had won the Stanley Cup the past two years, but went into the Finals series against Colorado as underdogs. The Avalanche maintained their 100% haul through success - every time the team made it to the deciding series for the title, they ended up winning the championship: 1996, 2001 and 2022.
