Stützle had already injured his knee in the first third in the 3-2 win against France on Monday evening and was unable to continue playing. The 20-year-old striker for the Ottawa Senators was absent from the German national team’s ice training session on Wednesday.
Should Stützle not be able to play, further reinforcements from North America would be all the more important. The two AHL professionals Leon Gawanke and Lukas Reichel are expected in Finland on Thursday and could already play against Denmark. For both of them, the season in the second-rate North American professional league AHL ended on Sunday (local time).
Söderholm doesn’t want to know anything about being a favorite
After two wins from three preliminary round games so far, a win against Denmark can be a decisive step for the quarter-final qualification. Söderholm did not want to be given the role of favorite for the meeting with the Olympic quarter-finalists. “It’s not about favourites, that’s zero speech” said the Finn.
After the Denmark game on Friday against the clear outsider Italy, the next points for the 2021 World Cup semi-finalists are mandatory. The group stage then continues on Sunday against Kazakhstan and ends on Tuesday with the game against Switzerland.
Source: dpa