The Men's ice hockey team is preparing today, Monday, for their match against France in the qualifying round of the Olympic ice hockey tournament. The game will take place on Tuesday in the Milan Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena The match will take place at 12:10 PM. The winner will advance to the quarterfinals and face Slovakia on Wednesday.
After a short night, the German team opted against further ice training today. In the Olympic Village, the focus for head coach Harold Kreis's squad was on recovery, ensuring they are rested and full of energy for tomorrow's game against France. The German men finished the group stage in second place, thanks to a superior goal difference compared to Denmark and Latvia. France finished fourth in Group A, which also included Canada, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic. The two teams last faced each other in the preliminary round of the 2024 IIHF World Championship – at that time, France emerged victorious. DEB-Selection prevailed with a score of 6:3.
Voices before #GERFRA
National coach Harold Kreis“On the one hand, we will prepare the team for the French game. Of course, it’s important for us to know what to expect and how they perform in different game situations. Even more crucial, from our perspective, is focusing on our ideal game, which we demonstrated, for example, in the first period against the USA last night. That reflects our game plan. We are a team that gives the opponent very little space and allows them few opportunities.”
Striker Dominik Kahun: "We did some things very well in the group stage. We need to carry that into tomorrow's match against France; then we'll be hard to beat. At the same time, we'll take what we learned from the first three games. We know what to expect against France. They're a tough team to play against; they're strong runners and play very aggressively. We know tomorrow's game won't be a walk in the park. We'll be ready, and then we'll have an excellent chance of advancing."
Schedule and results for the 2026 Olympics
12.02.2026 | Germany – Denmark 3:1 (1:1; 2:0; 0:0)
14.02.2026 | Germany – Latvia 3:4 (2:1; 0:1; 1:2)
15.02.2026 | USA – Germany 5:1 (1:0, 2:0; 2:1)
17.02.2026/12/10 | XNUMX:XNUMX p.m. | Germany – France (qualifying round)