Lots of light, but also shadows DEB-Selection during preparation / Finalists are expected next week / Suspension: Korbinian Holzer still has to watch the first game against Denmark
In the end everything was fine. The 4-3 victory in the dress rehearsal against South Korea on Friday in Odense ended an almost four-week preparation phase for the German national team for the 2018 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Herning/Denmark (May 4th - 20th, 2018). The balance of national coach Marco Sturm's team: four wins and four defeats in eight comparisons against Russia twice, Slovakia, France and the two final tests against Denmark and South Korea.
“It's good that we can start the World Cup with a positive feeling thanks to the win in the last match,” said Sturm, whose team had struggled against the supposed outsiders for a long time and was only able to turn the game around at the end with two goals. For the national coach, confirmation of his theses: “We have seen that if you are not ready, it will be difficult at this level. No matter which team.”
Sturm had previously repeatedly emphasized that he would not pay too much attention to the results during the tests. Yesterday, Friday, however, he put things into perspective with a smile: “At the end of the preparation, the results count a little more.” Leon Draisaitl once again shone as an assist provider and executor. The NHL star has an impressive seven scorer points after three games. His contribution to the German team's game is serious, but also carries the risk of being too easily calculating.
With Korbinian Holzer, another important building block will be added next week. Just like one or two players from the DEL finalists. Sturm, who allowed his boys to stay at home for three more nights before the meeting on Tuesday, announced that he still had to fine-tune the details. “There is still a lot to do, that’s for sure.” There were ups and downs during the preparation. The last units before the start of the tournament are about implementing the game system even more consistently.
Yasin Ehliz also sees it that way. The Nuremberg striker shone again with his teammates Leon Draisaitl and Matthias Plachta. Ehliz creates space and is incredibly agile as a source of trouble in all zones - with the nice addition that he can also score goals. “Above all, we have to be more consistent over 60 minutes and just play,” said Ehliz in his analysis on Friday: “Sometimes we want to do special things and sometimes that doesn’t work.”
In addition to Holzer, who has to watch the opening match due to a suspension from the 2016 World Cup, assistant coach Geoff Ward is also expected to be with the team next week. Players from Munich and Berlin expected. Sturm got on the phone last night to talk to his candidates about taking part. The final squad should be determined by Sunday evening or Monday morning at the latest.