Only victories count now
The men’s ice hockey tournament at the Olympics really gets underway on Tuesday. Everything that happened in the group stage was just preliminary skirmishing to determine the pairings for the playoffs. Defeats were no problem, but from now on only victories will help. Whoever loses is eliminated. Germany plays Slovakia in the round of 16 and if the Winter Games are not to end prematurely, they have to win by any means necessary.
After the preliminary round, the twelve participants were ranked. Slovakia, as the eighth best team in the group stage, will meet the ninth. Both teams still have a lot of room for improvement on the ice in Beijing. In their current condition, Toni Söderholm’s team should not dream of repeating the great coup of Pyeongchang in Beijing.
From now on, things will get really tough. If the German team wins on Tuesday, they will have the opportunity to take revenge on Wednesday, because the United States will be waiting there again. The DEB men lost to the USA in the preliminary round on Sunday. It is advisable, however, to focus all attention on this round of 16 first. It is difficult to predict where the match between Slovakia and Germany will go.
Somehow, the performances of the German team in the group phase have given little cause for optimism, even if there were phases in which things went quite well. The Slovaks probably had the more difficult tasks and achieved the same results as the German ice hockey players.
Slovakia – statistics & current form
Even if the superstars from the NHL are not present at the Winter Games in Beijing, the ice hockey tournament still offers the very big stage for future megastars of this sport. One of them is just 17 years old and wears the jersey of the Slovakian national team. His name is Juraj Slafkovsky. He is under contract with HC TPS in Finland and has been one of the faces of these games so far.
Look out for Juraj Slafkovsky
In ice hockey, it’s predominantly about scorer points, i.e. goals and assists. In this respect, the young Slovak is not at the top of the statistics, but with four goals in three games, Slafkovsky is at least the best scorer in Beijing – mind you, at the age of 17. Perhaps it might be worth taking a closer look at the odds on the attacker scoring in the round of 16 match between Slovakia and Germany.
The Slovaks had drawn a very difficult lot in Beijing. With Finland and Sweden, Slovakia had two potential gold medal candidates in their group. Accordingly, there were two defeats against the Scandinavian teams. If they didn’t want to face a tough opponent in the round of 16, they had to win against Latvia on Sunday.
Martin Marincin took the early lead. After the equaliser, Peter Cehlarik and Juraj Slafkovsky scored for a 3:1 lead. Latvia managed a second goal, but after goals by Peter Zuzin and Tomas Jurco, the score was 5:2 and the game was over. Coach Craig Ramsay’s team now wants to take this momentum into the playoffs.
The squad of Slovakia:
Goal: Tomek, Rybar, Konrad
Defence: Nemec, Grman, Ceresnak, Knazko, Gernat, Marincin, Cajkovsky, Daloga
Attack: Zuzin, Kelemen, Jurco, Kristof, Hrivik, Cehlarik, Roman, Takac, Dano, Slafkovsky, Hudacek, Regenda, Pospisil, Holesinsky
Head Coach: Ramsay
Germany – Statistics & current form
There are definitely parallels to the tournament four years ago in Pyeongchang. Back then, Germany also lost two games in the preliminary round and had to fight their way through the round of 16 to the final. Sometimes history repeats itself, but the first three games of this Olympic ice hockey tournament did not really inspire any courage.
Weak preliminary round
The Germans deserved to lose 5-1 to the Canadians, who were shorthanded. Toni Söderholm’s team had an extremely hard time against the Chinese, who had been thrown together, despite a 3-0 lead, and had to tremble for the three points in a 3-2 victory. Perhaps the best game was played by the German team against the United States.
However, it must also be said that Team USA is largely made up of college players who do not yet have any international experience. In the end, Germany had to admit defeat with 2:3. Despite a rather weak preliminary round, the German camp remains optimistic. However, after the previous performances between Slovakia and Germany, we would rather not make a prediction for a German victory.
But there is still no reason for a swan song. With a win over the Slovaks, the German men’s ice hockey team could then take revenge on the US boys and turn a very dismal tournament into a very successful one within two days. Marco Nowak is still unlikely to play on Tuesday after suffering an injury in the game against Canada.
The Germany squad:
Goal: aus den Birken, Niederberger, Bruckmann
Defence: Bittner, Holzer, Nowak, Abeltshauser, Wagner, J. Müller, Brandt, Rieder
Attack: Loibl, Krämmer, Plachta, Kühnhackl, Ehliz, Hager, Bergmann, Kahun, Pföderl, Pietta, Wolf, Noebels, Tiffels
Coach: Söderholm
Slovakia – Germany Direct Comparison / H2H-Balance
We wouldn’t call it a permanent duel, but in total the ice hockey teams from Slovakia and Germany have faced each other in 37 games. In the direct comparison, the Slovaks are ahead with 20:17 wins. This record shows that there could be a very interesting and close round of 16 on Tuesday.
Logically, there are no big winning streaks in this close direct comparison. The last encounter was not that long ago. However, it was not an official test match – with referees from their own camp. Before the opener in Beijing, this duel took place in a training match. The DHB men won 5:3, but it is rather doubtful whether one can draw conclusions for the round of 16.
Slovakia – Germany Tip
The first round of 16 could be a 50:50 match. The direct comparison already indicates that it could be an even match. The record of the Slovaks and the Germans in Beijing is also identical. Both lost against the supposedly favoured teams and won against the underdog in this group. On balance, however, the Slovaks probably had the tougher programme and the tougher opponents ahead of them.
At least the Slovakian team played a very good match against Latvia, while we are still waiting for a good match for the German men. At times against China and the USA it looked quite decent, but not much more has come so far.
We think Toni Söderholm’s team will try everything, but the performances in China so far don’t really justify a spot in an Olympic quarter-final. We fear that the adventure will be over again on Tuesday before it has even really started. With that, we play the betting odds on a Slovakian victory in the duel Slovakia vs Germany.
