The Men's national team is in sixth place in the preliminary round group B table with three points after the first three tournament games DEB-Selection has four more group games on the program in the coming days. The next opponent will be selected on Wednesday afternoon Latvia. The game starts at 16:20 p.m. in the Ostrava Arena. Last year's World Cup third-place finisher has currently collected four points from two games and will play against Kazakhstan this afternoon (16:20 p.m.).
Sweden leads Group B with full points after three games. There is a balanced picture behind this, as all teams have scored points before today's game day. In this respect, an exciting race for the four quarter-final places can be expected until the end. For the DEB-Selection had to collect themselves on Tuesday and concentrate on their own strengths. In addition to the approximately one-hour ice training session and a team meeting, the team photo session was also on the agenda in Ostrava today.
To the table of Group B: https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2024/wm/standings/group
Voices before the game against Latvia
National coach Harold Kreis: “We have learned from the first three World Cup games and see where we still need to improve. We had two very strong opponents in the USA and Sweden who put us under a lot of pressure at times. This showed us that we still need to work on little things in the defensive zone, among other things, and that every player needs to be clear about what his job is. Yesterday we managed to create some good scoring chances against a team like Sweden. We’ll take that with us and go into the next encounters focused.”
Captain Moritz Müller: “Yesterday's game against Sweden prompted us to sit down with the team today and talk through a few things. That was extremely important for us. Everyone is aware that you can lose against a top team like Sweden. However, the way we played yesterday was not the ice hockey we want to show. This fact prompted us to go over some tactical things again. The knowledge gained from this is very important for us. Now it’s time to get back to our game and focus on defensive details.”
Striker John-Jason Peterka: “The tournament is still long, so we have to put yesterday's game behind us and concentrate on the tasks ahead. We have had three strong opponents so far and are currently doing quite well with three points. We now have to continue to think from game to game and ensure that we make them successful. We trained well today and went over some tactical things again. That’s why I think we’ll do a good job against Latvia on Wednesday.”