On Friday evening in Tampere there was a premiere at this Ice Hockey World Championship: a loud duel between two groups of fans. So far, only a few German and Austrian supporters had lost their way to Finland. On the second weekend of the tournament, things are starting to change.

And because the two groups were in neighboring blocks on Friday, it was more exciting than what was happening on the ice at times. In the end, however, the German fans were in a good mood, their team won 4-2 and celebrated their second victory in a row.

Must-win game

The first one had taken place the evening before, when the selection of the German Ice Hockey Federation (DEB) had the first must-win game, as it is called in ice hockey language. And when they won 6-4 against Denmark, everyone involved was relieved.

Captain Moritz Müller even admitted that he hadn't been entirely honest in the days before about how much the impending exit had kept the team busy: "We tried to moderate it a bit in advance, but of course the pressure was enormous."

But it wasn't time to take a deep breath afterwards. On Friday, the next game was on the agenda, which the Germans had to win in order to keep the chance of the minimum goal of the quarter-finals alive. The bottom of the table from Austria was a grateful opponent, and yet the DEB team had a hard time.

Technical errors

Not even the early lead through a courageous solo by Nico Sturm gave security. When Bernd Wolf equalised in the twelfth minute, it was by no means undeserved. It was thanks to goalkeeper Mathias Niederberger that the Austrians had not scored earlier.

Much more flattering was the renewed lead by Parker Tuomie – again through a solo. Together, little worked out because the Germans did not move their legs enough and constantly made technical mistakes. Especially in the second period, when Austria even dominated.

Nevertheless, the next goal fell again on the other side. Wojtek Stachowiak increased the lead to 3-1, again with a solo. It didn't get any better after that, Lukas Haudum shortened the lead to 2:3 in the final third. Only Sturm's second goal into an empty net dispelled the doubts. The next match is against Hungary on Sunday (15:20 CET). There, too, a victory is needed. And significantly better performance.