The German women’s national ice hockey team will take on top favorites Canada in the quarter-finals of the World Cup in Calgary. Captain Julia Zorn’s selection secured third place in Group B after the final 1:2 (1:0, 0:2, 0:0) loss against Japan.

National coach Thomas Schadler’s team was brought in by Kerstin Spielberger after Zorn was presented in the first third. However, the Japanese dealt a double blow to the game and finished second in Group B. On Saturday night (3:00 a.m.) the German team will take on record world champion Canada.

“Our team had some good chances, which we unfortunately didn’t use in the end,” Shadler said and declared before the game against the hosts: “No matter what opponent we play against, we always want to win. ” Striker Marie Delarabre also confidently insisted: “Anything is possible.”

The Germans got off to a great start to the tournament with two victories against Hungary (3:0) and Denmark (3:1). Despite a loss against group winners Czech Republic (0:2), Zorn & Co qualified early for the quarter-finals.

The ten countries participating in the World Cup are divided into two performance-based groups. The five teams from the stronger Group A automatically advance to the quarter-finals, being supplemented by the top three from the “German” Group B.

After last year’s coronavirus-related cancellations and some postponements, the World Cup will now take place at this unusual time, in late August and the end of the summer break, in the 1988 Olympic City.