The German men's national team has made it clear that they will reach the quarterfinals of the 2023 IIHF World Championship! With a comfortable 5-0 win against France, national coach Harold Kreis's team secured fourth place in Group A. Alexander Ehl, Frederik Tiffels, JJ Peterka, Daniel Fischbuch and Maximilian Kastner contributed the goals to the fourth World Cup victory in a row.
There was a small change to the lineup: Due to Manuel Wiederer's injury-related absence, striker Daniel Fischbuch was added to the squad against the French before the game. Mathias Niederberger started again in goal, and the lineup remained unchanged.
The DEBteam went into the game as favorites, also because the tournament was no longer about anything for the French, and were able to put their stamp on the game from the start. The French goal rang for the first time in the fourth minute: Wojciech Stachowiak ran down the left side and was brought down by two Frenchmen. The DEBThe striker was able to save the scene with impressive acrobatics and passed to Alexander Ehl, who was running along, who was able to put the disc in the goal to make it 1-0. This played in the first power play (6th). DEBThe team was powerful and had good opportunities. France's goalie Sébastian Ylonen had no chance at 16-2 in the 0th minute: JJ Peterka's pass was supposed to go across the slot to Dominik Kahun, but the puck got stuck on Frederik Tiffels' leg and bounced from there into the goal. Shortly before the break, the French had their first good chances. Justin Addamo came closest to scoring, but only hit the post.
After the break it took 127 seconds for JJ Peterka to score the third goal DEBteam scored. The NHL striker went alone through two defenders and flicked the puck past Ylonen into the goal. Three minutes later, Moritz Seider took advantage of a French substitution and made a long pass to Frederik Tiffels, who had the next opportunity on his own, but shot onto the post. Mo Müller got the puck a short time later when he was alone in the slot. But his direct shot stuck on Sébastian Ylonen's shoulder.
In the final section, JJ Peterka had another solo where he did everything right. But Sébastian Ylonen was able to come up with a great one Parade award. In the next power play for the German team, Kai Wissmann set up perfectly for Daniel Fischbuch, who made it 4-0 (44th) from the slot. In the 48th minute, Frenchman Loic Franier was taken out of the game for a knee check on Samuel Soramies. In the subsequent five-minute power play, penalties followed against Maximilian Kastner and a little later on the other side against Justin Addamo, who even had to go out for four minutes. In the following power play, Kastner made it 5-0 after his return from the penalty box and a one-two combination with Marcel Noebels (54th). Mathias Niederberger celebrated his first shut-out at this World Cup. He was also named player of the match.
The World Cup quarter-finals will take place next Thursday. The IIHF determines when and where the game will be played in the so-called directorate meeting late on Tuesday evening. Current information will follow as soon as all quarter-final games have been scheduled.