One month after the silver miracle at the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, Marco Sturm has spoken again. The national ice hockey coach spoke about the lost final against Russia, the upcoming World Cup in Denmark (4. till 20. Mai), the NHL and the hype about him.
“Meanwhile, I am even recognized in Hamburg, where one hardly feels the boom otherwise. That never happened before,” Sturm told Bild am Sonntag. The fairy tale of South Korea, when Germany grabbed Olympic silver for the first time in the history of ice hockey, made the 39-year-old a celebrity in Germany as well.
However, the final against Russia, which lost the DEB selection 3-4 after extra time and was outnumbered shortly before the end of regular playing time, is still hanging in the balance.
“I haven’t seen the game so far and I don’t intend to. It just hurts too much. It’s bitter when you fail so close to the finish line,” explained the Bavarian from Lower Bavaria.
In any case, the primary challenge for Sturm is to get Olympia out of the players’ minds and focus on the World Cup.
“During the World Cup we must forget Olympia. You can’t just dream about what happened in the past. We must look to the future. And that’s the World Cup now, we all need strength for that,” Sturm said.
The goal in Denmark, where the DEB team will face Canada, Finland, the USA, Norway, Latvia, Denmark and South Korea in the group stage, is the quarter-finals.
“We are currently seventh in the world rankings, and we want to defend this position. If we can do that, I’m very happy,” said the national coach.
Sturm also talked about his future. His appearance at the Olympics has made him even more interesting as a trainer worldwide. Will Sturm fulfil his contract with the DEB, which runs until 2022?
“My goal for the future is to make it into the NHL as a coach. At the moment, however, there is no offer and I will remain national coach,” said Sturm, who emphasised that he has no exit clause: “Our association president Franz Reindl himself has said that we will only deal with the subject in the event of an offer.