Germany’s captain Moritz Müller even skipped his daughter’s birthday for the World Cup revenge against the Czech Republic. “When she’s big enough, she’ll understand where her dad was,” said the 35-year-old defensive veteran before the quarter-finals of the Ice Hockey World Championship in Helsinki on Thursday (3:20 p.m. / Sport1 and MagentaSport). Three years after the sobering 1: 5 in the first knockout round, the selection of national coach Toni Söderholm does not want to be stopped by the twelve-time champion this time.
The opponent: The Czechs played a mixed preliminary round. The team lost three times, including an embarrassing defeat by outsiders Austria. After the early Olympic exit, the Czechs are in a state of upheaval. “At this World Cup they are playing with different tactics than in the past, they work well together as a team and, as usual, are characterized by technically good players,” said national coach Söderholm.
