Semifinals! Against Finland! After the exuberant celebrations and the deep feelings of happiness, the German national ice hockey team has its sights set on the next coup. The duel with the reigning world champion will decide on Saturday (17.15:1 p.m./SPORT2021) whether Toni Söderholm's team's impressive path will reach the final of the XNUMX IIHF World Championships in Riga. “The journey continues, there are still chapters to be added to this story, that is the general will,” he said DEB-Coach after the penalty thriller against Switzerland (3:2).
The way the selection of the Deutscher Eishockey-Bund presented itself this time was almost unprecedented and commanded tons of respect and recognition. “I am proud to be part of this team and to take this huge step in the tournament. This is a great success for German ice hockey,” said Marcel Noebels, who impressively converted the decisive penalty. The two-time PENNY DEL Player of the Year stood on Thursday as a symbol of the renewed, self-sacrificing fight DEBteam, his involvement had been questionable until match day. But Noebels persevered. “It was simply a great performance by the entire team,” he explained.
Ice hockey Germany has long since caught national team fever, and at SPORT1 the viewer ratings are increasing from game to game. The enthusiasm achieves that DEB-Team even from a distance. “We know that a lot of people are watching at home, we are proud of that,” emphasized Markus Eisenschmid and Marco Nowak promised: “We will simply give it our all, we will continue playing just as we left off and I believe with the team, With the performance from the first to the last player, we have a good chance of achieving something big.”
The signal of the spirit of this special team, which reminds many of the 2018 Olympic team, should spread far beyond the World Cup tournament and help to increase enthusiasm for the sport of ice hockey and have a lasting effect. “There are enough role models in this team,” said sports director Christian Künast, “you can pick out several: Mathias Niederberger with his stoic calm, Moritz Müller, with whom you can see what team spirit means, or Korbinian Holzer, who comes through thick and thin goes and carries everyone on his shoulders. The list could be continued.”
On Saturday they will stick together again, throw themselves into shots, and not spare either themselves or their opponents. “The boys stick together so hard. Without these emotions, I don't think we would be where we are now," said Toni Söderholm about the scenes after the win against Switzerland, but also made it clear: "At the same time, we also saw when they had calmed down that they The opportunity we have now is incredibly beautiful. We are really focusing all our mental and physical strength on the semi-finals.” Because the lines about the most amazing chapter in this story are yet to be written.
Photos: Peter Schatz