Denmark is definitely Germany’s biggest competitor for a ticket to the quarter-finals at the Ice Hockey World Championships. The upcoming opponent of the DEB team celebrated their third win against Austria on Tuesday (May 16th, 2023).
In Tampere, the Danes prevailed 6-2 (1-0, 1-1, 4-1) thanks to a strong final third and now have eight points. Germany have lost their three previous matches against tournament favorites Sweden, Finland and the USA and have not yet scored a point. Germany meets Denmark on Thursday (7.20 p.m.).
Germany’s fight for the top 4
The team of national coach Harold Kreis absolutely has to win in order to maintain their chance of one of the first four places in group A. While the DEB selection only meets three teams without a win after the duel with Denmark, the Danes are still playing against the three German conquerors.
The Danes struggled for two thirds against Austria. NHL professional Nicolaj Ehlers ensured the 1-0 lead (10th). After Team Austria equalized through Thomas Raffl (28th), Niklas Andersen (34th) Denmark shot forward again. Furthermore, Jesper Jensen Aabo (47th), Nicklas Jensen (52nd), Matias Lassen (54th) and Patrick Russell (58th) scored for the winner. In the meantime, Peter Schneider was able to make it 2:3 (49th).
Also Norway, Switzerland and Hungary successful
In the second game of the day, Norway beat Slovenia. Thomas Berg-Paulsen scored the only goal of the game in the 17th minute. In addition, Switzerland clearly won 5-0 (1-0, 2-0, 2-0) against Kazakhstan and again kept a clean sheet. The goals were scored by Tobias Geisser (5th), Fabrice Herzog (28th), Damien Riat (31st), Nino Niederreiter and Romain Loeffel (50th).
The previously pointless Hungarians got a surprising victory. The outsiders won the match against France 3:2 (1:1, 1:1, 0:0, 1:0) in extra time. The French initially took the lead through Charles Bertrand (17th) and Louis Boudon (30th). However, that didn’t last long. Hungary quickly equalized with goals from Bence Stipsicz (20′) and Vilmos Gallo (34′). In the end it was Istvan Bartalis (62nd) who shot the Hungarians to victory.