The German national ice hockey team lost the qualifying game for the quarter-finals of the 2022 Olympic Games. At the National Indoor Stadium in Beijing, the German team lost 0-4 to Slovakia and was eliminated from the tournament.
Niederberger starts in goal, Nowak is back, offensive lines changed
National coach Toni Söderholm had made some changes to the lineup: Marco Nowak, who was recently injured, returned to defense, while David Wolf moved up alongside Nico Krämmer and Tom Kühnhackl in the attack. Mathias Niederberger received the trust between the posts.
It was also Niederberger who had to defuse the Slovaks' first dangerous attacks at the start of the game. On the other side, Nico Krämmer had the best chance to score after a quick action DEB-Selection, but the puck went just over the crossbar. The first goal of the game fell on the other side - and it was very unfortunate: a shot from Libor Hudacek (12th) bounced off Jonas Müller's skate and rolled into the net.
In the second section, the national team set the tone and created their first scoring opportunities. In a four-on-four situation, the Slovaks played a quick passing game, which Peter Cehlarik (28th) completed successfully. Shortly afterwards, Michal Kristof (29th) scored another effective goal - 0:3 from a German perspective. The DEBThe selection then tried to get closer - but they couldn't score a goal before the second break.
In the final third, the German team threw everything forward again and increasingly pushed their opponents onto the defensive. There was a lot of pressure on the Slovaks' goal, especially in the power play, but they also cleverly defended their lead in these scenes. The DEB-Selection put everything on one card and took the strong Mathias Niederberger off the ice for a sixth field player. But here too the goal only came from the other side - Marvin Hrivik (58th) scored the final point and slotted into the empty goal.
Voices about the game:
National coach Toni Söderholm: “First of all, it should be said that the Slovaks were a very strong opponent. They certainly put their best tournament performance on the ice to date. On the other hand, we as a team didn't play well enough and didn't get to the top level we should have been at. That's why the Slovaks deserved to win. Everyone is disappointed, but we are not hiding from the situation, which we will analyze and want to emerge stronger from it.”
Captain Moritz Müller: “Throughout the entire tournament, we didn't show our game and the performance that we demand from ourselves far too rarely. We are all disappointed and frustrated. The whole thing has to be analyzed and of course everyone has to look in the mirror themselves first. Of course, we shouldn't badmouth everything that has been built up over the past few years because we played poorly in this tournament. But we are self-critical enough that it was our fault and we didn’t get it done.”
Defender Korbinian Holzer: “Throughout the entire tournament, we figuratively didn’t get the horsepower on the road or ice. We couldn't find the game that makes us strong on the small ice surface. That's why we deserve to go home. We fell on our face today, we will now analyze what happened and then get back up. Except in the game against the USA, we didn't find the straightforwardness and gallantry that characterizes us. It’s bitter, but that’s sport.”
Statistics for the game:
https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2022/olympic-m/gamecenter/playbyplay/28611/19-svk-vs-ger