Germany is completely surprising in the semi-finals of the Ice Hockey World Championships in Finland and Latvia! The German selection prevailed 3-1 (1-0, 2-1, 0-0) against heavily favored Switzerland in Riga on Thursday. The Swiss, who left their preliminary round group as number 1, lost the fourth knockout duel with Germany in a row. In another quarter-final in Tampere, the USA beat the Czech Republic 3-0 (1-0, 1-0, 1-0).
The two winners will now meet in Tampere on Saturday. On Thursday evening Finland and Canada and Sweden and Latvia faced each other.Negative Switzerland strikes againThe Swiss lost again in a quarter-final against their nemesis in Riga, just as they did two years ago. After a strong preliminary round with a lot of early praise, the favorites had to put up with the early 0:1 through Maximilian Kastner (7th). Jonas Siegenthaler (21st) made it 1-1, but it gave the Swiss little security. In a sometimes heated game, the strong German team also got over a game misconduct penalty for NHL defender Moritz Seider, who headfirst his opponent checked into the gang. The two NHL strikers John-Jason Peterka (38th) and Nico Sturm (39th) outnumbered Germany shot ahead with two goals shortly before the second break. The Swiss could no longer counter, the uncertainty was palpable. Goalie Robert Mayer went off the ice for a sixth field player just three and a half minutes before the end, but the goal didn’t succeed. 3:0 – US team confidently against the CzechsThe USA also won their eighth World Cup appearance. Matt Coronato (13th), Nick Perbix (29th) and Cutter Gauthier (50th) scored for the Americans, goalie Casey DeSmith celebrated a shut-out. In the end, 34:15 was the goal shot statistics in favor of the young US team. The average age of the squad that traveled with some college players is just 25 years old.
