Since there was no World Cup in 2020, Finland, as the 2019 world champion, is theoretically still the defending champion. Image: keystone
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Analysis
Germany against Canada and the world champions – that’s how strong the World Cup squad Group B are
The Ice Hockey World Championship in Latvia begins on Friday. We’ll show you how strong the participating teams are. Today group B.
It is always difficult to assess the squad before the ice hockey world championship, because most of the time the player lists are not yet final. But this year it’s easier than it was before. Because subsequent nominations from the NHL are hardly possible due to the coronavirus pandemic, the roster will hardly change.
We want to give you an overview of the strengths of the various teams: today the B with Canada and Germany.
Group B:
Image: screenshot iihf.com
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Canada
Tor:
When the Canadians announced their World Cup squad, it was clear to many: If the maple leaves want to win gold, they have to do so on the basis of strong goal performance. For this they have a duo from the Arizona Coyotes in their line-up: Darcy Kuemper has played more games than Adin Hill, but a little less convinced. Coach Gerard Gallant is spoiled for choice.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Defense:
Of course, a large part of the Canadian team is still made up of NHL players. For once, however, they tend to be young players or those who don’t play the big roles in their clubs. In particular, there is little experience in defense. It will be interesting to see how Owen Power does. The 18-year-old is considered a possible number 1 pick for this year’s draft.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Sturm:
Even in the Canadian storm: youth researches skort. The most experienced striker is Adam Henrique, aged 31. There are also seven players under the age of 23 in the squad. Ottawa striker Connor Brown, who scored 21 goals in 56 games in Ottawa, poses the greatest threat to goals. Brandon Hagel, who started the season at HC Thurgau and then impressed as a rookie at the Chicago Blackhawks, is also interesting from a Swiss point of view.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Brandon Hagel started his season at HC Thurgau. Image: keystone
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Overall rating: 11/15 ⭐
Finland
Tor:
The names may not sound big, but Finland is entering the World Cup with a strong trio of goalies. Juho Olkinuora had an outstanding season at Magnitogorsk in the KHL and blocked 93.5 percent of the shots. Harri Sätteri is also convincing in the KHL (92.2 percent catch quota) and behind that you would have a regular goal from the Swedish league with Janne Juvonen.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Defense:
In defense, there are some players with a Swiss connection. Biel’s Petteri Lindbohm was called in just like Miika Koivisto, who once played for SCB and was not convincing, Atte Ohtamaa, who had the same thing in Lugano and Tony Sund, who stood in for HCD this season. On paper it doesn’t look like a world champion, but Finland won gold in 2019 with just such a team.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Miika Koivisto’s engagement at SCB was under a bad star. He only played 15 games with the Mutzen. PICTURED: KEYSTONE
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Sturm:
Even in the storm, the Finns mainly rely on players from the domestic league and the KHL. The exception is Arttu Ruotsalainen, who started the season in Finland strongly with Ilves and later ended it with the Bufffalo Sabers. It is important to pay special attention to him. 19-year-old Anton Lundell is also interesting. The center was drafted twelfth by Florida last year and has scored one point per game in Finland this season.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Overall rating: 10/15 ⭐
USA
Tor:
Rookie Jake Oettinger was a positive surprise for the Dallas Stars this season. Cal Petersen played regularly for the LA Kings for the first time this season. Anthony Stolarz, on the other hand, hardly played at San Diego and Anaheim. The choice of number 1 will probably fall on Jake Oettinger, who has no World Cup experience yet.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Defense:
The biggest weakness in the US team is defense. Only Matt Roy and Matt Tennyson came this season regularly in the NHL, with Tennyson in New Jersey was anything but convincing. Otherwise there are many AHL and college players who have yet to show their qualities at World Cup level.
Rating: ⭐⭐
Sturm:
Things look a little better for the US boys in the storm. There’s Jason Robertson, who scored almost one point per game as a rookie with the Dallas Stars. Most of the goal danger comes from him. Conor Garland showed his talent again at Arizona and the only 21-year-old Jack Drury plays strong in Sweden. They are supported by a number of other regular NHL players such as Kevin Labanc, Colin Blackwell and Ryan Donato.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Jason Robertson is supposed to score the goals for the USA. Image: keystone
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Overall rating: 9/15 ⭐
Germany
Tor:
Felix Brückmann has not yet contested a World Cup, so Niklas Treutle or Mathias Niederberger would have an advantage. But the 30-year-old Brückmann played a strong season with Mannheim and has also convinced in the previous test matches for the DEB selection.
Rating: ⭐⭐
Defense:
In the German defense, a lot depends on Moritz Seider’s performance. Detroit’s first round pick of 2019 is only 20 years old, but was already one of the best defenders in the Swedish league. He already proved in 2019 that he is good enough for the top World Cup level. Otherwise there is a lot of World Cup experience with Marcel Brandt, Korbinian Holzer, Moritz Müller and Marco Nowak.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Moritz Seider led Rögle to the playoff final. However, the southern Swedes lost there. imago images / Bildbyran
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Sturm:
While Leon Draisaitl is still involved in the playoffs with Edmonton, super talent Tim Stützle has not received a World Cup approval from the Ottawa Senators. Buffalos Tobias Rieder is leading the German storm. We can look forward to the performances of the two youngsters Lukas Reichel and John Jason Peterka.
Rating: ⭐⭐
Overall rating: 7/15 ⭐
Latvia
Tor:
Even if Elvis Merzlikins is missing for once, the goalies are the Latvians’ strength. National coach Bob Hartley can choose between Matiss Kivlenieks, number 3 with the Columbus Blue Jackets, Janis Kalnins, who played a solid season with Jokerit, or the Langnauer life insurance company Ivars Punnenovs.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Defense:
The Latvians are not doing so well in defense. Five out of nine players are over 30 and the friendly against Switzerland already showed that they were struggling at high speed. In both games they barely got the line around Enzo Corvi, Dario Simion and Grégory Hofmann under control.
Rating: ⭐
Sturm:
Even in the storm, the Latvians rely on the proven, but aging core of Ronalds Kenins, Roberts Bukarts, Lauris Darzins, Miks Indrasis and Mikelis Redlihs. Here, too, we take the test matches against Switzerland as a benchmark: A goal in a total of 130 minutes of ice hockey is a bit poor.
The Latvians are counting on the services of Ronalds Kenins once again. Bild: imago/Beautiful Sports
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Rating: ⭐⭐
Overall rating: 6/15 ⭐
The rest
Norway has the best chances of the other teams to intervene in the battle for fourth place in the quarter-finals. However, the northerners have not reached the quarter-finals since 2012.
Normally you would Kazakhstan and Italy to agree on the relegated team, but because there are no relegated teams this year, it’s just a matter of not being branded as a complete shooting gallery for both teams. For once, Italy competes without any National League mercenaries: Diego Kostner and Giovanni Morini do without.
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