First Ravensburg, then Rhineland / Sturm rebuilds squad / Total ice hockey: “Countdown to Cologne” and Latvia match from 17.25:1 p.m. live on SPORTXNUMX
Just one more game and then a four-week preparation phase with eight games as part of the Euro Hockey Challenge will be history. This evening (18 p.m., live on SPORT17.55 from 1:5 p.m.) the German national ice hockey team will meet Latvia for the second time in 21 hours at their dress rehearsal for the home World Cup (May 24th - XNUMXst) in Cologne. “We want to win the game and go to Cologne with a good feeling,” said national coach Marco Sturm.
The 3:4 after extra time yesterday was of course analyzed by the coaching team and the players. “The boys showed great fighting spirit for 65 minutes and created a lot of pressure,” said Sturm, praising the team despite the defeat. They also tried to achieve success with lots of shots on goal. Sturm: “I liked that.”
When you lose, there is usually the other side of the coin. “Two goals conceded were our own fault,” said the national coach, who had also hoped for a better rate in converting the chances. In fact, his players had created a number of good opportunities, but missed too many of them. Nevertheless: With a largely new squad - the players from the finalists were new, as were Swiss legionnaire Justin Krueger and NHL keeper Thomas Greiss - it was okay overall, said Sturm.
The ex-professional also emphasized that “we only trained a new system the morning before the game”. That's why he didn't want to overestimate the defeat: "Of course you always want to win at home, but you also noticed with the new players that they only slowly found their rhythm again after around 30 minutes due to the break in training and games."
Today the dress rehearsal in Ravensburg is on the program. Before it starts, they get it Fans Exclusive footage can be seen on World Cup channel SPORT1. Since then Deutschland Cup The TV media partner was able to accompany the team on various courses and preparation. Certainly an absolute highlight for the fans.
Sturm is rebuilding the squad again this evening. Keeper Thomas Greiss gets a break, instead Danny aus den Birken will stand in the box, Felix Brückmann behind him. Christian Ehrhoff, Dennis Seidenberg are also joining the line-up, as are Yasin Ehliz, Tobias Rieder and Patrick Hager. Immediately after the match in Ravensburg, the national team heads to Memmingen Airport, from where the plane takes off at around 23 p.m. with an exemption for Cologne.