The German selection moved into their quarters in Moscow today and will be taking to the ice for the first time in the evening
When the national players checked into the team hotel in Moscow on Wednesday afternoon around 14 p.m., most of their faces were tired. Quite understandable, since the team had already had a long day of travel including a four-hour train journey since breakfast at 7 a.m. in St. Petersburg.
The rest of the team generally used the Tuesday off to relax, but given the extreme stress of the last few weeks, “you can't just shake off your tiredness,” as captain Marcel Goc explained. Training is scheduled for the evening to loosen up the legs and get used to the new environment.
The previous program was indeed exhausting: the national team had to play seven games in ten days in the group phase of the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship. With four wins against Slovakia, Team USA, Belarus and finally Hungary, national coach Marco Sturm's team secured third place in Group B, which was hardly thought possible beforehand. Even before the encounter with Russia it is clear: the German team belongs already among the best six nations of this World Cup.
“We implemented exactly what we set out to do at the start of the tournament,” said Patrick Hager: “We wanted to improve from game to game and we succeeded.” Very well, in fact. Because after the 2:3 after a penalty shootout against France at the start and the 1:5 against Finland in game two, the German selection got the corner. Marco Sturm saw the match against Slovakia as a turning point: “The team earned top marks and showed a very strong performance.”
Even against France, his team actually played "quite well," but unfortunately did not take advantage of the opportunities that presented themselves. "Against Finland, it was a completely different game and a deserved defeat," said the national coach afterwards. In the 2:5 defeat against Canada, the sensation was within reach when Sturm's boys managed to pull out a 40:2 draw after 2 minutes, but were unable to maintain their consistency in the end.
The fact that the team ultimately achieved third place in the group and was able to generate positive headlines is also thanks to the patience of the coaching team and the team.
Because despite the two defeats at the start of the tournament and the resulting first critical tones from Fans and the media always remained true to the motto of just thinking “from game to game”. “Even if that sounds boring to you,” Korbinian Holzer dictated into the journalists’ notepads. But: He should be right. Patrick Hager had already put it much more clearly: “People should finally understand that there are no so-called easy opponents at a World Cup.”
In this case, Hager's statement applies to no opponent more than to Germany's quarter-final opponent Russia. There could hardly be a higher hurdle. "Playing against Russia in Russia is comparable to a match in Canada against Canada. They are among the best nations in the world and are favorites in every tournament," said Marcel Goc: "We have nothing to lose in this game, but are much more excited about the challenge."
Teammate Patrick Reimer sees it similarly. “With Russia we have probably faced the strongest opponent. You don't just have to compete against the team, but against an entire ice hockey nation. “Let’s see how well we manage it,” the striker winked.