At the World Cup in Finland and Latvia, the German national ice hockey team achieved the next mandatory victory on their way to the quarter-finals.
One day after the 6:4 against Denmark, the selection of national coach Harold Kreis prevailed on Friday in Tampere 4:2 (2:1, 1:0, 1:1) against relegation candidate Austria.
NHL striker Nico Sturm (5th and 59th minute), Parker Tuomie (17th) from the Straubing Tigers and Wojciech Stachowiak (34th) from ERC Ingolstadt scored for the German team.
“We’re not very happy with our performance,” said Sturm. “But at the end of the day we won, it’s a sign of a solid team.”
At the beginning sovereign than against Denmark
In fact, the performance against Austria was initially more confident than against the Danes. Sturm also went ahead against the staid and playfully weak Austrians and scored the first German 1-0 lead so far in this tournament with a remarkable individual action.
A painful slap shot put NHL defender Moritz Seider out of action after a good ten minutes. The Austrians used the ensuing disorder in the German defense for a surprising equalizer, which Straubing’s Tuomie from the fourth line of attackers, who had triumphed so far at the World Cup, countered to give the Germans the lead again.
Fourth line of attack strong again
A very weak middle third followed, in which the German team inexplicably struggled. It was Stachowiak’s refreshing fourth line of attack again, which nonetheless provided the reassuring third goal. “With us, the row that is up is the first row,” explained Coach Kreis.
The 7451 spectators also saw a lot of cramps in the final section. After all, that’s what the German team did after Austria’s goal six minutes before the end and brought the work victory over time. Sturm made everything clear with his second goal in the orphaned goal.
Now against Hungary and France
The quarterfinals are still possible after the win. After three narrow opening defeats against the top nations Sweden, Finland and the USA, Germany was under a lot of pressure. Against the outsiders Hungary on Sunday (3.20 p.m.) and France on Tuesday (11.20 a.m.), the team of the German Ice Hockey Federation can now make the renewed qualification for the round of the top eight perfect.