The first moments of shock are too many
Brave DEB will miss the World Cup semi-finals
26/5/2022 5:36 PM
After their impressive appearance, the quarter-finals of the World Cup in Finland are the end of the streak of the German ice hockey team: despite the brave match, the DEB team lost to the Czech Republic and was waiting for the world. Trophy medal for 69 years.
The German ice hockey team missed a repeat of last year’s coup and was eliminated from the quarter-finals of the World Cup in Finland. Almost a year after reaching the semi-finals in Riga and exactly 100 days after their early Olympic exit, national coach Toni Soderholm’s team lost 4-1 (0-2, 0-1, 1-1) to the Czech Republic in Helsinki. Germany has been waiting for a World Cup medal for 69 years.
Young Moritz Seider (54th place) scored the goal in front of 4,290 spectators for the selection of the German Ice Hockey Federation (DEB), which moved to the quarter-finals with the best preliminary result in the history of the World Cup (16). . David Pasternak (3rd), Roman Cervenka (11) and David Kriegsey (33) each in strong play, and Yeri Smikal (59) in the empty net for the Czech Republic, which the German team had already knocked out in the quarter-finals. in 2019.
In last year’s title fights, DEB’s pick lost the semi-finals and ended up fourth, notching its best result since silver in 1953 in Switzerland. The starting position compared to a knockout three years ago could hardly have been more similar on Thursday at Helsingin Jäähalli: Back in Slovakia, DEB wanted to swing into the knockout stage after their best group stage yet (15 points) Take a round but lost 1 : 5 against the Czechs.
‘A little respect’
As expected, Söderholm trusted his regular goalkeeper Philipp Grobauer, who showed in the preliminary round, especially in the 2-1 win over Slovakia, why he belongs to the absolute world class. After an early penalty from Yasin Ahliz, Grobauer had to come right behind him after a powerful shot from NHL star Pasternak in the first game with a man-hit. The Czechs, brimming with NHL greats, continued to press and sometimes caused serious problems for the German defense. Top scorer Cervenka followed him again in the power game after the dream combination.
The German team took almost 11 minutes to make their first shot on target, but then they got into the game better. Shortly before the first half, professional Lucas Richelle hit the post. After the change, DEB’s selection remained fine, but took the next hit in the neck with the third goal in which they received a larger number. Then Berlin’s main striker Marcel Knoebbels celebrated in vain after hitting the crossbar only.
“We had a lot of respect,” defender Seder said after 40 minutes in Sport 1: Söderholm tried it all and took out Grobauer for the first time for another field player during a solid play nine minutes from the end – with success. The DEB team tried everything until just before the end.