No more power, no medal. The long and famous German ice hockey team suffered humiliation at the end of the World Cup in Riga and was not rewarded with its first hoped-for medal at the World Cup in 68 years. Just 21 hours after the unfortunate semi-final defeat to Finland, national coach Toni Söderholm’s exhausted and mental selection on Sunday outperformed the bronze medalist from the USA with a time of 1:6 (0:1, 0:4). , 1: 1). World Cup newcomer Dominic Pettner scored the only German goal (50th minute) when the match was long overdue.
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Christian Wallanen (6th place), Conor Garland (27th place), Jack Drury (29th place), Jason Robertson (32nd place), Trevor Moore (33rd place) and Ryan Donato (50th place) took the 8th American Boys World Cup – Bronze Medal. At the 2010 World Cup on home soil, Germany took fourth place.
What was still a sensation eleven years ago, now feels like a disappointment – which was also a lesson in the end. Secretly, the German Ice Hockey Federation (DEB) team counted more and even stared at the world title. Indeed, on Saturday, the first World Cup final in 91 years was not missing much. In a 1:2 match against the homeland of Söderholm, Germany were the better team, but were unlucky and also committed two massive individual fouls that were mercilessly exploited by the effective Finns. “You have to respect the result, even if it is very painful,” Soderholm said.
After the bitter defeat, his players decided to secure at least third place on Sunday, and thus the best World Cup result since the silver medal in 1953. “We will get the bronze medal tomorrow whatever way,” defensive routine Corbinian Holzer said.
But that didn’t work because the mental show didn’t work either. “It was not easy to deal with that,” Soderholm said ahead of the Sport 1 game in light of Saturday night’s defeat. Goalkeeper Matthias Niederberger, who described the quick focus on a potential medal after 1:2 against the Finns as a “challenge”, only sat on the bench against the United States.
Substitute Felix Brockmann was overcome after five good minutes with his first-ever American shot. Powerful defender Wallanen grabbed the puck from Matthias Plachta, started on his own and finished. Once again, the German national team had to run behind its deficit in its tenth game in 16 days, as before in the semi-finals against the Finns and in the quarter-finals against Switzerland. “We have to wake up slowly now,” warned defender Moritz Seder during the third break.
The opposite happened. As usual, Germany had a hard time on the offensive, while the United States ruthlessly seized opportunities. With each goal scored, the German legs became heavier, even in weakness, the majority did not want to fall. To make matters worse, Captain Moritz Muller was injured by the ice. The consolation goal came in the final third, but it was too slim at the end.
In general, the World Cup is still a success. The development in German ice hockey with more and more NHL players, among them Germany’s best player of the year 2020 Leon Driesitl, goalkeeper Philipp Grobauer and newcomer Tim Stutzel – was not even present in Riga. After a thrilling Olympic silver medal in 2018, the emotional selection with the best team spirit and fighting power once again delighted until at least Saturday. In the preliminary round, their first World Cup win in 25 years against Canada (3:1) also did something historic. “I think every ice hockey player in Germany is proud of the way the team presented themselves here,” said Söderholm, who was almost moved by his choice.
Arch-rivals Switzerland, who defeated Germany in the quarter-finals after penalty shootouts, are considered a role model with two finals in 2013 and 2018. In the world rankings, which are important for the World Cup group classification and Olympic qualification, Germany finished seventh ahead of Switzerland with a World Cup score and boosted It advances the Confederates more.
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