The German national ice hockey team has collected another three points and thus still has every chance of an optimal starting position for the quarter-finals: against the selection of Kazakhstan they achieved their fifth win in a row (in the sixth World Cup game) with a 5:4. The goal scorers were Jonas Müller (5th), Leo Pföderl (17th), Daniel Fischbuch (19th), Lukas Reichel (26th) and Yasin Ehliz (48th). Ehliz was also named the best German player of the game.
The German team started the match against Kazakhstan with two changes: Goalkeeper Dustin Strahlmeier received his first playing time at the tournament in Finland and celebrated his World Cup debut. Mathias Niederberger took a seat on the bench as backup. Leo Pföderl returned to the offensive line and formed the "BerlinThe block" of last year's World Cup. In return, Matthias Plachta, Korbinian Holzer and Philipp Grubauer were given a break today. National coach Toni Söderholm also had to do without Tim Stützle, whose World Cup ended prematurely due to a knee injury.
The Kazakhs got off to a better start in the game thanks to Roman Starchenko's early goal (3rd). But Germany got a quick answer less than two minutes later with Jonas Müller's first World Cup goal (5th). The longer the third lasted, the more the German team gained a share of the game. Nevertheless, the Kazakhs added another step through Yegor Petukhov (16th), but 34 seconds later Leo Pföderl immediately equalized. Before the break, Daniel Fischbuch (19th) took the deserved lead again.
The German team continued to dominate the game in the second section and once again showed their strength in the power play in the tournament so far: Lukas Reichel (26') was released when he was twice in the majority, so that the striker was able to overcome the Kazakh goalie Andrei Shutov from close range. Everything looked like they would go into the break with a two-goal lead before Pavel Akolzin (40th) scored the next goal.
The Kazakhs scored another quick goal right after the restart when Nikita Mikhailis (41). scored to equalize. But the DEBThe selection did not let this deter them and worked with self-confidence to take the lead again. Yasin Ehliz finally managed this (48th). In the following minutes, more goals could easily have been scored on both sides, but both Andrei Shutov in the Kazakh goal and Dustin Strahlmeier in the German goal were able to excel several times. That's how it ended up being a narrow victory for the German national team - their fifth success at the World Cup in Finland.
What's next? In the final group game next Tuesday (May 24, 2022) against Switzerland, the German team can secure an optimal starting position for the quarter-finals. The game against the Swiss starts at 12:20 p.m. (11:20 a.m. German time) and will be broadcast as usual on MAGENTASPORT and SPORT1.
The World Cup quarterfinals – for which the DEB-Selection, as mentioned, is already qualified - will take place on Thursday (May 26, 2022). The quarter-final pairings will be determined after the last preliminary round matchday on Tuesday evening.
Voices about the game:
National coach Toni Söderholm: “Mentally, the third and fourth goals gave the Kazakhs a bit of a boost, especially since every game is important for them now. Maybe we could have played with more intensity. There were also moments when we had rhythm and clarity in our game and controlled it that way. However, we didn't do that for more than 60 minutes. We all know we can play better. It is still important that we gain self-confidence through the victories. That doesn’t happen by itself either.”
Goalkeeper Dustin Strahlmeier about his first World Cup appearance: “It was an exciting game for me, the boys supported me very well. It wasn't easy to get in after a few weeks without any real play. The game was fast paced and I had fun. And of course I'm glad we won the thing. The Kazakhs were dangerous in their attacks and played quite calmly, but we did a good job, especially when we were outnumbered, and in the end it was a unified team performance again.”
Leon Gawanke on the fifth World Cup victory for the German team: “Everyone knows that it wasn’t our best game today. We are still happy to have won and thus scored important points again this time. And in the end no one asks how anymore. We will definitely watch a few things in the video study now, we have to work much better defensively against Switzerland.”