After four wins in a row, the German men's national team managed to secure fourth place in the final table of Group A and thus advance to the World Cup quarter-finals. Waiting there for them DEB-Select the team from Switzerland that took first place in preliminary group B.
The German team started the journey from Tampere (FIN) to Riga (LAT) this afternoon. The quarter-final against Switzerland will take place in the Latvian capital tomorrow at 15:20 p.m. German time. Players, coaches and team staff landed in Latvia promptly shortly before 13 p.m. and immediately checked into the team hotel. Meanwhile, the equipment managers set up the German cabin in the Arena Riga. In the late afternoon, the team led by national coach Harold Kreis had an hour-long ice training session on the program.
National coach Harold Kreis: “It was a very well-organized travel day, it was relaxed and went perfectly. I found the boys very relaxed today, but at the same time you can sense that there is a certain energy in the team ahead of tomorrow's game. I think tomorrow's game can't come soon enough. We are strong runners and strong in the fight, which is exactly what we want to bring in tomorrow against a fast, attacking Swiss team. We expect an intense, high-quality quarter-final.”
Striker Marcel Noebels: “It's nice to be here again. German ice hockey has many positive experiences with Riga and Latvia. But we don't live in the past, we can't buy anything from it. Tomorrow there will be a fight for every inch, it will go back and forth. It will be emotional on the ice, which is part of a derby. It will be an exciting game that many people are rightly looking forward to.”
Striker Dominik Kahun: “It will definitely be a close, heated game. The Swiss have a self-confident team, they are strong opponents in terms of running and technology. If we play our game, we have a very good chance of winning. We have to stick together as a team again, that's what defines us. Nobody feels like a star here; we all subordinate ourselves to the success of the team. That’s why we’re successful, that’s why we’re right here in the quarter-finals.”