When the Russians brutally ripped the gold from their silver platter, a world collapsed for the ice hockey heroes of Pyeongchang:”We were Olympic champions for three minutes,”said defender Moritz Müller in the first disappointment. Up to 55.5 seconds before the end of the match, the terrific German national team had led 3:2 in the final thriller against the record world champion, the biggest sensation in the history of ice hockey was in the air.
A quarter of an hour later, with silver around his neck, despite the dramatic 3:4 (0:1,1:0,2:2,0:1), after an extra time of pride over the shock, I didn’t want to stand with some grimace on my face, but with a smile on my face,”said goalscorer Patrick Reimer after the award ceremony for a historic achievement.
After Jonas Müller’s (57th) goal, gold and the miracle of Pyeongchang were within reach. But Nikita Gusew (60th) forced the extra time, in which Kirill Kaprisow after 9:40 minutes took the German sky forward from Wolke seven – Reimer was sitting on the penalty bench. It was a drama, some players remembered the dream factory Hollywood,”Maybe somebody would like to film it there,”said the top goalkeeper Danny from the birch trees again:”Then I just hope that Brad Pitt doesn’t play me”.
We never expected to reach the final here,”said Sturm:” Normally we sit at home and watch it on TV. But we’re here!”
After beating World Champion Sweden 4-3 and Olympic Olympic Champion Canada 4-3 against World Champion Sweden, his team had already surpassed the legends of the past, which had won bronze in 1932 and 1976, before the final. In the final, she fell half a second behind Slawa Wojnow (20th) and twice in the final section by Gusew (54th) in front of the first third siren, twice she came back with the equaliser: by Felix Schütz in the middle (30th) and by Dominik Kahun only ten seconds after the 1:2 (54th).
“In the end, pride prevails,”said Christian Ehrhoff, who four hours later led the German athletes to the Olympic Stadium as flag bearers for the closing ceremony. Afterwards, they moved on to the German House to wash away the last remnant of the disappointment:”Let’s really let it all go,”Reimer announced a party regardless of losses:”We’re leaving, that’s why we don’t care anymore.”
Directly from the tap to the airport on Monday morning and back home, where the national players’ historic victories sparked an ice-hockey enthusiasm that is set to turn into a boom:”They electrified an entire country – from the youngest to the oldest,”said DEB President Franz Reindl.
More than five million people had already sat in front of the television in the semi-finals, and several million even turned on at five in the morning to watch the final match “We are all football fans,”said Moritz Müller,”but still believe that there is room for more than one sport in Germany. I hope it sends a signal and the parents send their kids to hockey.”