What a fight, what a bitter end: The German national ice hockey team only lost to arch-rival Switzerland in the last preliminary round of the World Cup in a penalty shootout. Nevertheless, there is good news for the men of national coach Söderholm.
The German national ice hockey team narrowly missed out on winning the group at the World Championships in Finland, but celebrated the best preliminary round result in their history. The team of national coach Toni Söderholm, which already qualified early for the knockout round, lost to their eternal rival Switzerland in the last preliminary round game 3:4 (2:1, 0:2, 1:0, 0:1) only after a penalty shootout. As a result, Germany meets the twelve-time world champion Czech Republic or Olympic champion Finland in the round of eight.
Kai Wissmann (12th), Stefan Loibl (16th) and Matthias Plachta (48th) scored the goals for the German Ice Hockey Federation (DEB), which had previously won five times in a row for the first time in history. Andres Ambühl (2nd), Pius Suter (22nd) and Denis Malgin (39th) scored for Switzerland, Damian Riat made the decision in the penalty shootout.
The DEB team conceded the only defeat in the six matches before in the venerable "Helsingin Jäähalli" in the 3:5 at the start against Canada. Germany had previously achieved their best preliminary round result with 15 points in Kosice/Slovakia with five wins in 2019. At last year's World Cup in Riga, Germany beat the Swiss in the quarter-finals 3-2 after a penalty shoot-out, and in the end the DEB team finished fourth.
Regular goalie Philipp Grubauer from NHL club Seattle Kraken was back in goal after a two-game break. The Berlin champion goalkeeper Mathias Niederberger sat on the bench. Defender Korbinian Holzer also returned to the ice after a two-game break, but Dominik Bittner had to give way.
Grubauer was caught cold: World Cup record player Ambühl, who had replaced German record international Udo Kießling in his 120th World Cup game on Saturday, nailed a dry slapshot into the net. However, the DEB team was unimpressed. Daniel Schmölz and Maximilian Kastner failed with a double chance at Swiss goalie Reto Berra.
The DEB selection subsequently rewarded itself for a tactically clever and disciplined appearance, with the aggressive forecheck the Swiss had problems. The hitherto extremely strong Wissmann struck ice cold in the first power play. Loibl followed suit.
After the first break, Grubauer was still there with the schooner against captain Nico Hischier for the first shot, then Suter smashed the puck in unstoppable. The German team kept up and kept the game open. Shortly before the end of the second third, the post saved Grubauer in the Swiss power play, then the slap shot placed by Rosenheim at Malgins had no chance.
"In the first third we did a very, very good job. In the second third we let ourselves be pushed in a bit," said Holzer before the final period. After the change of sides, replacement Leon Gawanke had to go into the dressing room with a blood-smeared face after a brutal elbow check, which was incomprehensibly not punished, but was able to continue playing. It wasn't the first tough action by the Swiss. Shortly thereafter, Plachta scored after an outstanding individual action. What an incredible goal! Alone, it wasn't enough.
