NHL top defender Moritz Seider and a strong performance for a long time did not protect the injured national ice hockey team from defeat at the World Cup opener against Sweden. On Friday evening, the selection of the new national coach Harold Kreis lost against the eleven-time world champion with 0:1 (0:0, 0:0, 0:1). A goal scored by Oscar Lindberg from SC Bern (42nd minute) dashed all justified hopes of the first World Cup victory against Sweden in 31 years.
“We don’t have to blame ourselves much. We teased a very good team for a long time. I’m very proud of us,” said Seider: “I think that’s a good foundation that we’ve laid.” Kreis was also “very satisfied” with the performance. “It is important that we got off to a good start. The team played at eye level with Sweden. We have to continue that tomorrow,” said the coach.
Already on Saturday (7.20 p.m./Sport1 and MagentaSport) the selection of the German Ice Hockey Federation is again required. Then it’s up against the defending champions, top favorites again and World Cup hosts Finland. The Suomi team around superstar Mikko Rantanen from the Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche should be particularly motivated after the 4-1 defeat against the USA. Striker Marcel Noebels summed up that you could take “a lot of courage” from the start into the rest of the tournament. “It’s important that we bring the same vigor and spirit into the game,” said Kreis.
National coach Kreis had announced a courageous German team for his World Cup debut as head coach. In fact, his selection started briskly and was initially significantly better than the eleven-time world champion with its eight NHL professionals. From a solid defense with NHL top defender Seider, Germany did much more for the offensive and repeatedly disturbed the Swedes in the game structure.
Leon Gawanke will follow at the weekend
Seider only joined the DEB team on Monday after a few weeks’ break due to injuries after the NHL main round with the Detroit Red Wings. Since then, the 22-year-old had been preparing intensively for his first World Cup appearance this year and was immediately called up by Kreis on Friday. So did Providence Bruins AHL defenseman Kai Wissmann. The 26-year-old only arrived in Tampere on Wednesday and immediately showed a convincing game.
This weekend, another North American pro in Leon Gawanke of the Manitoba Moose of the AHL is expected to finally solidify the defense. Gawanke could then be used for the first time on Monday in the third World Cup game against the USA.
In attack, however, the lack of many goalscorers was noticeable. Kreis had received 15 injury-related rejections on his World Cup debut as national coach and also deliberately avoided some of the best German DEL goalscorers. Despite significantly more chances in the first third, no goal was scored even when outnumbered.
Germany, with six World Cup debutants, was at least equal to the favorites afterwards. However, the Swedes gradually released themselves from the pressure and now brought more shots on the German goal themselves. A patience game developed in which the German goalkeeper Mathias Niederberger became more and more a factor. The master goalie from EHC Red Bull Munich was powerless only after a stupid penalty against the future Mannheimer Daniel Fischbuch. Outnumbered, Germany conceded the decisive goal from a deflected shot. So Germany has to wait for the first World Cup victory against Sweden since 1992. (dpa)
