The German ice hockey team is sensational in the World Cup finals

Dumber – Frédéric Tifels jumped with joy in front of the rink, seconds later the match winner was overtaken by all his colleagues on the ice surface in Tampere. The fanfare between the German ice hockey cracks knows no bounds. The first ice hockey world championship final with a German participation in 93 years is in order, and the first German world championship medal in 70 years is certain.

National coach Harold Kreis’s team defeated the USA 4:3 (2:2, 0:1, 1:0) after extra time in the semifinals in Tampere, Finland, and now also has its first World Cup title. vision It would be the biggest German ice hockey win for the 2018 Olympic silver medalist and 1976 Olympic bronze medalist.

Germany will meet Canada in the final on Sunday (7.20 pm/Sport1 and MagentaSport), which dates back to 1930 at the first World Cup. Earlier, they won the first semi-final against Latvia 4-2 to become the record world champion. Defels scored the decisive goal in extra time on Saturday in Germany’s second World Cup semi-final in three years. Tifels (13th minute), Maximilian Suber (17th) and Marcel Nobels (59th) scored goals for the German Ice Hockey Federation in regular time.

“Everything can be done from now on”

After the coup at Sport1, Tiffels spoke about the most important goal of his career and was looking forward to the final: “Everything is possible from now on. We have something rolling. Why not finish it tomorrow?” And the Moritz disciple added: “A game, anything can happen. We have shown in the past that we can beat Canada. It will be a great game for everyone.”

In 2010 and 2021, the DEB finished fourth for the World Cup qualifiers after reaching the semi-finals. New national coach Griez’s current team immediately topped the World Cup premiership as head coach. In 2010, the 64-year-old was already an assistant coach to the then national coach Uwe Krupp. “I’m not even thinking about retiring because of that,” Greiss said with a smile: “The team is unbelievable. How the troops have grown together, what a unit it is.” Against his native Canada, his heart beats only for Germany: “I’ve been away for so long, I feel 100 percent German.”

As in Thursday’s 3-1 quarter-final win over Switzerland, the district selection again showed great will and passion and picked up their first win against the US team in their third game in three weeks. Germany lost the last World Cup Test on May 9 (3:6) and the opening round match on May 15 (2:3).

The horror begins

On Saturday, Germany bounced back into the game after a terrible start. Just 71 seconds later, NHL striker Alex Tuch of the Buffalo Sabers took the lead, which AHL professional Rocco Grimaldi (4th) added shortly after with a millimeter-accurate slap into the top corner.

But once again in this match, Germany showed their mettle after the referees awarded Patrick Brown a two-minute penalty instead of a five-minute penalty for a bad knee check on Germany’s best World Cup player Nico Sturm. But they used the German goal to score the majority goal of Tiffels in Munich.

Germany were now in the game, standing up and working hard. Sturm, the NHL attacker from the San Jose Sharks, equalized with a bold follow-up before the break in the first third and excellent preparation for Szuber’s first World Cup goal.

A tough middle section

Germany had to come back again after a tough middle division in which the US defended well and Germany fared poorly. When Tampa Bay Lightning’s Michael Eisemont (29th) rebounded, the defense was too lax and allowed the NHL pro to score the third goal for America. A strong defense in the final third made it difficult for a long time against the young American side before the Nobles of Berlin scored a deserved equalizer just before the end. In overtime, Tifels caused a flurry.

No one believed that the German team would achieve anything before the World Cup. The district had 15 cancellations from service providers due to injuries. In addition, three of the best German NHL players did not participate in the World Cup in Finland and Latvia: Leon Drieseidl, Tim Stützl and goalkeeper Philipp Krubauer. Nevertheless, Greece managed to create a combative and playfully confident division.

A sensational win against Canada on Sunday would make the biggest German win of all perfect. Germany won bronze in the 1934 World Cup and were also runners-up in 1930 and 1953. But then the World Cup was not as exciting as it is today. For example, in 1953, only four countries participated in a group stage with no knockout games. Germany won Olympic medals in 1976 (bronze) and 2018 (silver).