Germany strives for World Cup success against Austria

With the second win in 24 hours, the German national ice hockey team is on course for the quarter-finals at the World Cup in Finland and Latvia. However, the DEB team wobbled in the 4:2 win against Austria.

When Nico Sturm put an end to the game of nerves with a shot into the empty goal, the German ice hockey cracks at the World Cup took a heavy load off their shoulders. The team of national coach Harold Kreis struggled one day after the wild 6: 4 against Denmark against relegation candidates Austria to a 4: 2 (2: 1, 1: 0, 1: 1) and improved with the second win in the preliminary round group A in fifth place.

“We knew it wouldn’t be an easy game. We have the three points, that’s the only thing that counts,” said goal scorer Wojciech Stachowiak on “MagentaSport”. Mathias Niederberger was also satisfied. “We are self-confident and happy that we were able to win twice. Let’s keep going,” said the goalkeeper. The opponent “put a lot of pressure on. Austria played very well in structure. We had a good move to the goal.”

Despite the important success, the pressure remains high: In order to safely reach the knockout stage, the selection of the German Ice Hockey Federation (DEB) would also have to play their last two games on Sunday (3:20 p.m. CEST) against promoted Hungary and on Tuesday ( 11:20 a.m./both Sport1 and MagentaSport as well as in sport.de-Liveticker) win against France.

In front of 7451 spectators in Tampere, Stanley Cup winner Sturm (5th/59th), Straubinger Parker Tuomie (17th) and Ingolstadt Stachowiak (34th) scored the goals for the extremely nervous German team, which was strong with its Goalkeeper Niederberger was allowed to thank. Bernd Wolf (12th) and Lukas Haudum (54th) scored for the still winless Austrians, who rose to the top of the table last year after the exclusion of Russia and Belarus because of the aggressive war against Ukraine.

“We want to set our tone right from the start and not let the game get too close,” young NHL star Moritz Seider demanded from MagentaSport before the first face-off. That’s how the German team started, the Austrians only knew how to help themselves with icing every minute. The early lead came from a remarkable individual action: Sturm successfully completed a solo over half the field. In the fifth game, the DEB team scored 1-0 for the first time.

DEB team copes with setback

After that, Sturm and Co. lost their line, the outsider had chances. Niederberger saved when young star Marco Rossi went it alone, but seconds later he was beaten. The fact that the first third break was not 1-1 was due to a one-off action by Tuomie. Austria pushed for an equaliser, Niederberger got more and more to do. World Cup debutant Stachowiak also scored after a solo. “Today is not our best game,” admitted defender Kai Wissmann.

Haudum shortened the lead in the final phase and created excitement again, Sturm put the lid on it with a shot into the empty goal after the Austrians had taken their goalie off the ice.

The night before, the relief had been great. “The pressure was enormous after three good games without points,” admitted captain Moritz Müller: “I’m all the more proud that the team mentally coped with these setbacks in the game again and again.” After falling behind early and being 3:3 in the meantime, he thought: “That can’t be true.” The fact that the DEB selection prevailed in the wild final phase was “a moment that we just needed and somehow deserved”.


Austria 2-4 Germany (1-2, 0-1, 1-1). – Goals: 0: 1 Storm (04:22), 1: 1 Wolf (11:15), 1: 2 Tuomie (16:28), 1: 3 Stachowiak (33:32), 2: 3 Haudum (53: 25), 2:4 (58:56). – Penalty minutes: Austria 0 – Germany 4. – Spectators in Tampere: 7451

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