Today the World Cup starts for the German selection live from 15 p.m. on SPORT1 / Captain Goc: “Just think from game to game”
Now it starts: With the opening game against France, the German national ice hockey team starts the 15 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in St. Petersburg/Russia today (from 1 p.m., live on SPORT2016). The time for tactics is over, and that's a good thing in the eyes of those in charge and players. “We are all looking forward to the start,” said Tobias Rieder from the Arizona Coyotes, one of four professionals from the National Hockey League (NHL), and added: “We are expecting a strong opponent.”
The German selection has around four weeks of preparation behind it. After a mixed start, national coach Marco Sturm's team got better and better on track. Even if the results didn't always go as desired. An increase in performance was nevertheless noticeable. “We played really well recently,” said Sturm, particularly referring to the dress rehearsal in Switzerland (3:4 nV). The only thing his team lacked from time to time was consistency. “This is exactly where we have to improve at the World Cup,” emphasized the national coach, because “small missteps are immediately punished, especially at international level.”
On paper alone, the national team has a very respectable squad in Russia. A fact that of course also pleases the ex-NHL professional behind the German gang. After all, Christian Ehrhoff and Korbinian Holzer are two defenders in the squad that Sturm could not have expected at the start of preparation. Sturm: “They are absolute leaders and give us even more depth in defense.”
Nevertheless, at 13th in the world rankings, we are far from making too bold a prediction when it comes to the goal. The public and some media were already speculating about the quarter-finals. Marcel Goc, who was officially named captain on Friday, shook his head: “We don't let ourselves be put under pressure, we just think from game to game. France is the first hurdle and that will be difficult enough.” Goc’s assistants are Marcus Kink and Christian Ehrhoff.
In general, it is far too early to formulate a real forecast, emphasized Goc. “The French have always played a very good role in the last World Cup tournaments and were often able to annoy the big players. So anyone who thinks that we are the favorites is wrong.” Rather, the start of the World Cup is a “game on equal terms”. The 32-year-old former NHL professional is probably right. The first tournament surprise was less than 24 hours ago. The Czech Republic beat hosts Russia 3-0 in Moscow.