Olympic sentiment is back. After that Wm-coupe Against Canada, whose intensity was reminiscent of the “game of the century” in the 2018 Olympic semi-finals in PyeongChang, German ice hockey cracks float in the World Cup Riga Continue on cloud nine. “This team has won with passion and great love for each other,” said the captain Moritz Müller Happy. A superb start against Kazakhstan on Wednesday with a fourth win in the fourth game (3:15 pm / Sport 1) should continue. Players, coaches and officials believe in the surprises as they did three years ago when the German Ice Hockey Association selection sensationally won a silver medal after 4: 3 in the Olympic semi-final against Canada.

“It was an incredible team effort,” said DEB President Franz Reindley The next day of a 3–1 win in Riga – the first World Cup victory against a 26-time world champion in 25 years. “It reminds you of the silver days.” In fact, the parallels to the 2018 Olympics are striking. Nevertheless, Germany, without the NHL stars, was impressed with team spirit. It seems the selection of national coaches Tony Soderholm To top it again this year.

Team spirit is very important

The proud national coach said, “It is important that we realize that anything is possible for these players.” “Team spirit is very, very important. It’s part of our DNA,” said excellent goalkeeper Mathias Niederberger.

Unlike three years ago South Korea The World Cup has NHL players, but the big stars are still missing – in a bubble in the midst of the epidemic, also due to the tournament’s special circumstances. Many top countries have lost games surprisingly. The homeland of ice hockey, consisting almost exclusively of NHL players, suffered its third defeat against Germany in the third game. Never before has this happened in the history of the World Cup.

“It used to be clear that one of the top six countries would eventually become world champion. It is different now: you have a lot of teams now, we are one of them, ”said Rindle. Defender Corbinian Holzer insisted, “The start was certainly brilliant, but we still have to do a little bit more.” As an NHL professional at the time, he did not experience the 2018 Olympics as a player. For him it was a turning point: “This belief developed, the claim has also changed.” Unlike in the past, one no longer wants to win games against teams at the same level, but each one of them. For Captain Muller, part of the 2018 silver team, this development began before the Olympics.

Coaches believe in their team

“In the past, Germany always came to the World Cup with some complexity. Then we started something that started before the Olympics, ”said the 34-year-old, who likes it over coaches Marco Sturmo And now Soderholm returns: “Coaches who make us feel that we can play. And we see that we can actually do that. “

The team also feels special this year for the 33-year-old veteran Holzer, who has played for the DEB team for 13 years. Holzer was also in the first World Cup under Söderholm in 2019, when he achieved four opening victories and the best World Cup preliminary round so far, before the quarter-finals against the Czech Republic. It may have topped this time, although two years ago Slovakia World class player from scratch Leon draisaitl It was there and NHL’s top goalkeeper Philip Grubauer joined him. After the Edmonton Oilers playoffs in the NHL, Dressittal and Dominic Cahun could still come, but would only play in the coming week.