DEB team narrowly wins against France - worries about Stützle

Created: 05/16/2022Updated: 05/16/2022, 10:00 p.m

Leonhard Pföderl (M) from Germany celebrates his goal in the World Cup match against France with his teammates Marcel Noebels (l) and Marc Michaelis.

© Martin Meissner/AP/dpa

With great worries about exceptional striker Tim Stützle and a hard-fought victory, Germany's national ice hockey team is heading for the quarter-finals of the World Cup in Finland.

Helsinki - After the 3: 2 (2: 1, 0: 1, 1: 0) against outsiders France, the selection of national coach Toni Söderholm has to fear the loss of the NHL attacker from the Ottawa Senators and thus a severe setback.

Attacker Leo Pföderl (46th minute) from champions Eisbären Berlin scored important points with his winning goal in the final third on Monday in Helsinki.

After a check against his knee, the 20-year-old Stützle had long since disappeared into the dressing room with a pained face.

According to the German Ice Hockey Federation, there was initially no diagnosis.

In addition to Pföderl, the two Düsseldorfers Daniel Fischbuch (3rd minute) and Alexander Ehl (18th) scored after a strong German start.

But the vicious French fought back again and again and equalized twice through NHL pro Alexandre Texier from the Columbus Blue Jackets (15th) and Hugo Gallet (32nd).

DEB contacts possible Stützle replacements

With the second success in the third group game, the DEB selection made the next step towards the hoped-for path to the knockout stages.

After two days off, the game will only continue against Denmark on Thursday (3:20 p.m. / Sport1 and MagentaSport).

Should Stützle actually fail, further reinforcements from North America would be all the more important: The DEB contacted Lukas Reichel from the Rockford IceHogs and Leon Gawanke from the Manitoba Moose after their end of the season in the second-rate North American AHL.

Before the game against France, Söderholm did not know whether both were healthy and would be traveling to Finland at short notice.

Shortly before the World Cup, another very important creative attacker had failed in the form of former NHL striker Dominik Kahun.

Stützle was seen as a beacon of hope

Striker Reichel as a "constant creativity factor" (Söderholm) and defender Gawanke with strengths in build-up play and power play drew attention to themselves at the last World Cup in Riga and contributed to the semi-finals.

The next few days will show whether the team's performance is more likely to be fourth in 2021 or tenth at the Olympics.

Thomas Thiry (l) from France checks Tim Stützle from Germany in the third preliminary round game between the two nations during the Ice Hockey World Championships in Finland.

© Antti Aimo-Koivisto/Lehtikuva/dpa

Stützle was the great hope for the offensive.

Still with the young Sturm talent, Germany confirmed on Monday the good performance of 2-1 on Saturday against Slovakia, who took part in the Olympics.

The Söderholm squad quickly took the lead with a majority and was clearly dominating afterwards.

Then the focus was on Stützle: After a check, the player from Viersen collapsed on the ice.

And then made a stupid move on the way to the dressing room when he hit his stick and weakened his team with an unnecessary penalty time.

Goalkeeper Mathias Niederberger, who this time was preferred to NHL goalie Philipp Grubauer from the Seattle Kraken, was beaten with a man down.

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Because World Cup debutant Ehl deflected a shot from defender Dominik Bittner just three minutes after the equalizer, the favorite was still ahead after the first third.

Due to the absence of Stützle, Söderholm had to change his attack and accept the next setback with the 2:2 in the middle section.

Thanks to a successful combination of AHL striker Marc Michaelis from the Toronto Marlies and Berlin champions teammates Marcel Noebels and Pföderl, the Germans were happy with three more important points.

dpa