On Thursday, the Ice Hockey World Championship experienced its big sensation in the Riga Arena. Outsiders Latvia had defeated Sweden 3-1. The people raged in the hall and outside at the big public viewing. In the afternoon not even 3000 spectators had gotten lost in the giant arena, in the end there was no sensation to be seen there either, just a victory with the announcement: Germany beat Switzerland 3-1 and advanced to the World Cup semi-finals. The Swiss were probably the only ones who were surprised by this result, as they thought they were already on their way to the title after their grandiose preliminary round.
The German team now sees itself on that, even if it is officially talking about a medal. That’s legitimate, and after all, the team of national coach Harold Kreis has already achieved a lot, but that doesn’t mean that the players don’t really want to win their semi-final against the USA on Saturday.
The times when German teams only wanted to play in a big tournament and were happy about narrow defeats against the greats of world ice hockey are probably over. Especially since the team has slowly but surely blossomed into a medium-sized team since winning the 2018 Olympic silver medal. For comparison: The multiple world champion Sweden has reached the quarterfinals three times in the past four World Cup tournaments, once nothing at all. Germany has reached the quarterfinals twice and the semifinals twice.
In addition to the team’s playing culture, which has certainly grown and the greater range of good players, there is also a change in mentality that has taken place since 2018. Now they play to win, not to look good.
It used to be different and that was unintentionally confirmed by television expert Kai Hospelt late Thursday evening. The former international, who finished fourth in the 2010 World Cup, said it was good that Latvia would no longer have home advantage in a third-place match because the match would be played in Tampere. With this thinking, Hospelt would currently be alone in the German team cabin. The players don’t think about the small final, they want the big picture.
Source: Tagesspiegel
Brayden White, a veteran sports writer at Global Happening, brings his wealth of knowledge and expertise to the sports section. With over a decade of experience, he is committed to delivering high-quality coverage of the latest games and events.
