HOKEJ.NET: – A lot of emotions, a 2:2 draw after forty minutes and a loss. I see there is sadness in your team at the moment.
– The emotions were huge. This silver medal is still a great success, but for now we are treating the silver as a failure. For me, this is the second record of this kind this season, which hurts even more, but at the same time only motivates me more for next season.
I suspect that over time you and your friends will start to appreciate this silver medal more, as it is a great achievement of the whole German national team.
– Yes, it’s the first medal in 70 years, so we still made history. Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to win this tournament, but yes, we are proud of what we have achieved.
In the third period you probably left your opponent a little more space? It was probably in this part of the game that the balance tipped in favor of the Canadians.
“The 2-2 goal was accompanied by a strange penalty. We failed to get the puck out of the period and the rivals equalized. On the other hand, with the 3:2 goal for Canada, there was a small mistake on our part, used by the opponent… That’s what happens in hockey. We had a chance to score, we lost the puck and they went the other way, took the lead and that was it.
What were your tactics and your approach to this final? Did you have to play the same way as in the semi-finals or did you prepare differently for each opponent?
“We played the same thing in every game. In every game we wanted to play our own game, we didn’t want to let the opponent impose their style on us. That was also the plan for the final. It didn’t worked, but I think we can be proud of our performances throughout the tournament.
Did your opponent surprise you?
– They didn’t surprise us in any way, we knew very well what awaited us. It was a World Cup final after all and we knew it would be a tough and fast game, that’s what we expected.
There is a vice-world championship, a medal, there is something to celebrate. What do you still need to work on for such achievements to happen again in the future?
“We wanted everyone to start seeing German hockey a little differently, and I think we succeeded. We have shown that we can play in big tournaments for medals and certainly in the years to come our rivals will not see us as a potentially easy opponent. If top teams like the United States and Canada feel respect for games with us, it’s a big success for us. We played a great tournament, we gave it our all and I couldn’t be prouder of us.
So you will celebrate…
– (smile) Yes, but first you have to wait for the emotions to subside. For now, each of us is holding back tears, because that gold was a dream that didn’t come true. After all, there will definitely be a party.
Interviewer: Robert Zielinski
