The first World Cup medal since 1953 is certain, now the first World Cup title is supposed to be here. The German ice hockey team also counts on chances against Canada in the final.
For the first time in 93 years, a German national team has made it into the final of the Ice Hockey World Championships.
With the surprising 4:3 after extra time in the semifinals against the USA, the team of national coach Harold Kreis in Tampere, Finland, secured their first World Cup medal since 1953. Now the World Cup title is supposed to be in the final. “The goal now is definitely to knock Canada away. We’ll sweep them away,” said defender Jonas Müller from Eisbären Berlin at Magenta Sport.
That speaks for Germany’s first World Cup victory
The team of national coach Harold Kreis has nothing to lose, is at least already vice world champion. “Tomorrow our legs will be so light and we will go into the game with such anticipation. The feeling of definitely going home with a medal is incredible,” said the best German World Cup player, Nico Sturm from the San Jose Sharks of the NHL.
Added to this is the will of the team, which does not consist of the best individual players, but always convinces as a unit. Against Switzerland in the quarterfinals, the game misconduct penalty against the best German defender Moritz Seider was lifted. Germany came back against the USA after an early 0:2 and later 2:3. After the three defeats at the start of the World Cup, progress in the all-or-nothing game against Denmark was at stake. Since then, six wins in a row. “We learned to go through phases when things didn’t go that well. We have the advantage over other teams in the tournament,” said Stanley Cup winner Sturm.
The team’s confidence is huge. In recent years, the belief in winning medals at major tournaments has always been there. At least since the silver medal at the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang. “The key to success is believing that we can play with the big players. Decades ago, the game wasn’t lost on the ice, but in the dressing room. It’s different now,” said Captain Moritz Müller. “We’ve matured as guys and as a team. And mature enough now to say we want to be world champions too.”
That speaks for Canada
Canada, together with the currently excluded Russians, are record world champions with 27 titles and can crown themselves as the sole record champions again with another success on Sunday. It is the seventh World Cup final for Canada since 2015. The role of favorites is clearly divided. Of course, Germany is just an outsider.
21 of the 23 players on the Canada roster play in the NHL. Germany only has three players from the strongest league in the world.
Canada is always there most of the time in the games where it counts. In the preliminary round, the Canadians lost to Switzerland and Norway just after extra time. In the last preliminary round match against the Czech Republic, they again managed to win against the Czech Republic (3:1), otherwise Canada would only have reached the quarter-finals as fourth in the group. In the knockout games there was a clear 4:1 against defending champions Finland. In the semi-finals, Canada trailed 2-1 after two thirds against the big outsiders Latvia, then picked it up again and won 4-2 in the end.
Source: Stern
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
