After the disappointing performance of the German ice hockey stars at the Olympic Games, Christian Künast took stock critically and admitted mistakes.
“We are currently looking for our identity,” stated the sports director of the German Ice Hockey Association in an interview with “MagentaSport”.
“The German game is still this feeling of unity, this courageous, this going out for Germany, without it always being playful,” said the former national goalkeeper: “Stability in defense comes first!”
This was neglected at the Winter Games with what was supposed to be the best national team of all time around NHL star Leon Draisaitl. “Hurrah, now we’re doing another forecheck, where we should perhaps retreat. We could have prepared this compact style of play better.”
He didn’t exempt himself from the criticism: “We were well prepared, but we weren’t fully prepared. That starts with me – because I’m the sports director.”
Proximity to trainers was missing
A big disadvantage in Milan was that the coaches didn’t live in the Olympic Village. “That was really a difficult point when teams – women and men – are used to being close to our coaches,” said Künast: “This contact was missing somewhere – and that is Harry Kreis’s greatest strength! We robbed him of that somewhere – including me, because I was a deciding factor.”
The German team had achieved the association’s goal of reaching the quarter-finals, but had failed to take advantage of what could have been a historic opportunity against Slovakia, the easiest remaining opponent, in a disappointing 2:6. Overall, national coach Harold Kreis’ team lost three of its five games, although only once was the opponent an absolute top team – 1:5 in the preliminary round against the eventual Olympic champions USA.
