Ice Hockey World Cup: The first victory

Leon Gawanke smiled mischievously; his hat trick also came completely out of nowhere for the defender. With the first hat-trick by a German defender at a World Cup, Gawanke stood out from a greatly improved German national ice hockey team, which confidently solved the first of three compulsory tasks on the way to the quarter-finals. After four defeats at the start of the tournament, national coach Harold Kreis’ team won 6:2 (2:0, 2:0, 2:2) against outsiders Hungary and thus prevented an early exit.

Gawanke, who also ended the German power play misery with his first goal in the twelfth attempt, played a large part in the first success at this year’s World Cup with a hat-trick (19th/42nd/50th). “It’s very nice, a brutal honor, feels good,” said Gawanke on MagentaTV.

Berlin’s Eric Mik (9th), NHL striker Lukas Reichel (40th) and Nuremberg World Cup debutant Samuel Dove-McFalls (40th) scored the further goals for the selection of the German Ice Hockey Federation (DEB) in front of 5,000 spectators in Zurich, who kept their chance of advancing. Tamas Sarpatki (45th) and Janos Hari (58th) scored the Hungarians’ goals, with the previously strong NHL goalkeeper Philipp Grubauer not looking good in the short corner in the first.

“Overall, we had the game under control for 60 minutes,” said Kreis happily: “Firstly, the three points are important. Secondly, it’s always good when a team wins.” For Gawanke it was “a must win, we knew we needed the three points. We dominated for over 60 minutes.”

The supposed final for quarter-final participation against Austria will take place on Saturday

The expected “final” for the quarter-finals will take place on Saturday against Austria. “It will be a completely different game than we experienced today,” said Kreis. With a win against their neighbors and another success at the end of the preliminary round on Monday (both 8.20 p.m.) against previously overwhelmed newcomers Great Britain, the chances of making the knockout round would be good, but the DEB selection also needs help.

Kreis decided not to accept Alexander Karachun, who was subsequently nominated. The Schwenninger replaces the future Cologne player Daniel Fischbuch in the German squad, who left with a broken hand. Grubauer was somewhat surprisingly in goal, even though the “final” against Austria was 24 hours later.

The DEB selection started nervously. Then Mik scored with a shot from the blue line, and Nicolas Krämmer blocked the view of the Hungarian goalie Bence Balizs in front of the goal. With the lead, calm returned to the German game; the district team repeatedly restricted the Hungarians in their own third. In the twelfth power play of the tournament the knot broke: Gawanke scored.

“That’s what we were missing. We know that, we addressed that,” said Krämmer after the first third. There shouldn’t have been a penalty for the Hungarians because Fabio Wagner hit Marc Michaelis in the face with his bat.

The dominance continued in the second half. Only shortly before the end of the third did Reichel and Dove-McFalls increase. Gawanke added shortly after the start of the final third. The German team slowed down a bit, then Grubauer made a mistake. Another Hungarian goal was disallowed after a challenge from the German coaching team. Grubauer was disabled. Then Gawanke completed his hat trick from a tight angle.