Olympia | Ice Hockey Group Stage: German ice hockey selection with false starts against Canada

The Germany national ice hockey team, which sensationally won a silver medal in Pyeongchang in 2018, experienced a false start to the Olympic tournament in Beijing. DEB Selection clearly lost Canada 1:5 (0:3, 1:1, 0:1).

Canada got off to a better start in the game. The German selection tried to counter this, but had to concede the first goal after five minutes. Alex Grant put his team forward after five minutes from the blue line after a suspected check from behind Eric O’Dell’s German goal to Marco Novak, the latter was unable to continue. A little later, the stormy Canadians followed: in the 10th minute, Ben Street, who is under contract with RB Munich in the DEL, scored the opening 2–0 goal.

And Germany’s entry into the Olympic tournament was even more bitter: just seconds after a 2–0 victory, Daniil Vinnik (11th) made it 3–0. Using three of his six shots on target, Canada was highly effective in front of the target. The German team, on the other hand, seemed troubled by a defeat in the first few minutes to national coach Tony Soderholm. Especially in the defense, Germany stood far away from the Canadian attackers and gave a lot of space to the world champions. In the final minutes of the first third, Germany were able to break free, but the team, which only had a chance through Marcel Brandt (18th), did not score.

Germany reforms in the second third

At the start of the second third, the German team showed themselves to be more compelling and aggressive. David Wolf (23rd) and Moritz Müller (24th) made the DEB twice dangerous in a very short time, but had to wait for the first goal. Nevertheless, Germany managed to maintain the momentum and challenge Canada much more than in the first section.

Nevertheless, the strong Canadian remained dangerous. After 30 minutes, Adam Tembellini suddenly broke free in front of Mathias Niederberger after a drastic mistake made by the German defense team, but the German goalkeeper made a fine defense and saved his team from going even further behind. His front team thanked him a short time later with a goal of 1:3. Tobias Ryder (31st) gave his team hope again in the second round.

But Canada responded quickly: in the 33rd minute Maxim Noro restored a three-goal lead for the North Americans and scored 4–1. Goalkeeper Niederberger looked quite unhappy with the long-range shot this time.

Canada overall very strong

Canada took control again in the last third. Overall, Jeremy Colliton’s team was too strong for a German selection on Thursday. Even in the final section, the pace set by the Canadians was too fast, and Germany also deserved to lose to the gold medalist. Jordan Weil leveled Canada 5-1 in the 52nd minute.