The German national ice hockey team has kept its clean sheet at the 2021 IIHF World Championship after a brilliant fight and an outstanding defensive performance from goalkeeper Mathias Niederberger. After the two opening victories, the team of national coach Toni Söderholm also prevailed against world number one Canada, winning the exciting encounter 3-1 (2-1, 0-0, 1-0). In the Arena Riga, Korbinian Holzer, Stefan Loibl and Matthias Plachta scored the goals for the German team, which were enough for the first World Championship victory against the Maple Leafs since 1996.
The German team met a Canadian team that surprisingly started the tournament with two defeats. Accordingly, they were extremely determined and highly motivated DEB-Cracks their opponent and initially placed great value on a stable basic order. In addition, the balance of the squad should also come into play again. DEBCoach trusted the identical formation as in the 5-1 win against the Norwegians, meaning Mathias Niederberger was in goal for the second game in a row.
With a compact defensive performance and a brilliant Niederberger, the Germans survived the first phase of pressure from the Canadians. In attack, the national team continued to demonstrate its high level of efficiency: Tom Kühnhackl powered his way along the boards and delivered a precise pass to Stefan Loibl (11th), who scored with a precise shot into the far corner. Less than a minute later, the German bench cheered again when Matthias Plachta (12th) simply shot at goal from outside and the puck deflected into the Canadian net. The world number one only managed to score a goal shortly before half-time through Nick Paul (19th).
In the second section it worked itself out DEB-Team with vehemence against the powerful Canadian attacks and initially parried a four-minute outnumbered period - including almost two minutes with two men less on the ice. Even afterwards, Toni Söderholm's team once again demonstrated outstanding team spirit. Again and again, German players bravely and selflessly threw themselves into the shots of the maple leaves that besieged Niederberger's goal. But thanks to the strong defense and outnumbered performance, they managed to defend their narrow lead.
It continued like this in the final section: The DEB-Selection fought with all their might against the Canadians' attacks and threw everything into the balance in terms of effort and blocked shots. Tobias Rieder (45) had the few dangerous counterattacks. the best opportunity to score, but his solo attempt was parried by Canadian goalie Hill.
Even when the Canadiens risked everything and brought in a sixth fielder, it caught DEBteam again shot the puck. Korbinian Holzer (58th) aimed precisely and scored to make it 3-1, the German national team's first win against Canada in 25 years. Mathias Niederberger was named best player, having blocked a total of 39 shots from the opposition.
Tuesday will be that DEB- Use the selection again to train and gather strength before the team around captain Moritz Müller plays the fourth tournament game in Group B against the team from Kazakhstan on Wednesday (from 15.00 p.m. live on SPORT1).
Voices about the game:
National coach Toni Söderholm: “The boys showed passion and very strong will today. They did everything to win. We had to overcome many situations when we were outnumbered, but it was really nice to see the spirit the team played with today. Mathias Niederberger showed how calm he is right from the start of the game. It felt a little like he was always one step ahead. That also gave the team a huge push.”
Goalkeeper Mathias Niederberger: "I have to give the team a huge compliment. The way the boys defended and blocked shots today – I've honestly never seen anything like it. Winning such a close game against Canada is really extraordinary. It was incredibly exhausting, I kept having cramps from the second third onwards, but we all held on. We really have a lion's heart, you could see that today."
Striker Nico Krämmer: “I was celebrated for a blocked shot, but it was Tom who threw himself into the scene. But it doesn't matter who blocks, the main thing is that we won the game. We have enough ice in the cabin. We have an incredible amount of passion and character in the team and I'm just proud to be part of this team. Everyone gets involved, even the boys who aren’t currently playing are supportive and give tips.”