Tickets still available / Today's duel is already decisive for the opponent / Rieder and Hager are condemned to watch
Tobias Rieder apologized to the assembled press yesterday for his language before he said anything. “The situation is, sorry, shit.” That sentence actually summed everything up. Each of the numerous media representatives present had sympathy for Rieder, who had previously been pushed onto the ice on crutches for the team photo because of his damaged syndemosis ligament.
Rieder's loss for the remainder of the World Cup tournament is painful. A lot. The Arizona Coyotes striker played a key role in the opening win over the USA with his goal to make it 1-0 against the USA. In addition, the winger comes on the ice in almost all important situations. National coach Marco Sturm thinks highly of the Landshut native, who wants to stay with the team for the time being and will be heading to the nearby Media Park Clinic again on Tuesday to have his foot checked.
Late, but at least on Monday evening, more bad news arrived for the national team. For his foul against Russia and the subsequent match penalty, Patrick Hager was suspended for two games by the IIHF disciplinary committee. Along with Rieder, Hager was one of the key players in the German game. The striker had added two goals so far.
Without Hager and Rieder, Sturm is forced to make changes today against Slovakia. David Wolf was reported for the World Cup by the national coach in the morning. There is no question that the game is extremely important. “Just because we have already played against the top nations doesn’t mean that the games will be easier now,” warned Christian Ehrhoff: “On the contrary. In terms of intensity, it’s at least the same as before.”
Today's duel is already decisive for Slovakia; a victory over the German team is urgently needed. If you don't succeed, it will be difficult. The Slovaks currently also have three points. However, the rest of the program is tough, because then it's against Russia, the USA and Sweden.