Ice hockey is a simple game: Switzerland talks itself into being the clear favorite before the game and then the alleged underdog Germany wins. On Thursday, the duel will be repeated in Ostrava at the current Ice Hockey World Championship (4:30 p.m., live on ProSieben and Magentasport). It is a game with a good history for the German team.
Because if the German national ice hockey team has had a favorite opponent in major tournaments and playoffs for more than a decade, it is Switzerland. All major successes in the recent past have led to a knockout game against the Swiss: 2010 in the World Cup quarter-finals (1-0 for Germany), 2018 at the Olympics (2-1 aet in the round of 16), 2021 in the World Cup quarter-finals (3:2 for Germany after P.) and in 2023 in the World Cup quarter-finals (3:1). From this it can easily be deduced that the Germans are great opponents for Switzerland in an elimination game.
The exact reason for this cannot, of course, be explained by the personnel alone across two generations of ice hockey players. In this respect, it is nonsense to now give Switzerland the role of favorite because Germany’s best defender Moritz Seider is missing this time and the Swiss have their top defender in Roman Josi: Seider did not play long in the 3:1 win in the World Cup quarter-finals in Riga last year, and in the second third of the game the top defender from the Detroit Red Wings received a game misconduct penalty. Germany won anyway. Again because the German team had the stronger nerves in crucial moments, as in all the games mentioned above.
The German players are convinced that the journey for them will continue like last year
In the preliminary round, the Germans’ points tally was slightly better than at the World Cup last year (15 points instead of 12), while Switzerland were slightly weaker (18 points instead of 19). The very offensively oriented German team scored 34 goals in seven games this time; only Sweden (35 goals) and the USA (37) were better. But it is interesting that all of Germany’s attackers can score and their effectiveness is the best of all 16 teams in the tournament. No other team used their chances so well.
In addition, runner-up world champion Germany was the strongest team in the tournament up to this point, ahead of Switzerland, by the way. The Swiss allow things to happen, especially when they are outnumbered, as they are the second worst team in the preliminary round when it comes to conceding goals. The mark of only twelve goals conceded in seven games is impressive; only Sweden (nine goals conceded) have been stronger defensively up to this point. The Germans, on the other hand, are very shaky defensively in this tournament (24 goals conceded so far).
All calculations will of course be obsolete when the puck is thrown onto the ice on Thursday in the somewhat dated arena in Ostrava and the DJ has to turn down his deafeningly loud fairground music for a moment because the game is on. Then it will all come down to nerves. As always when Germans and Swiss meet in ice hockey.
The German players are convinced that their journey will continue like last year and will only end in the final. “We all want to go to Prague, that is our big goal,” says attacker Dominik Kahun, who has been playing for SC Bern in Switzerland for a few years.