We have to win critical games, not just make upsets, said German coach Uwe Krupp

30 Apr 2011 | David Schlegel

The series have lasted 23 games when Germany played against Soviet Union and 9 more games when Germany played against Russia. You could never hear the German anthem after the game. Soviets or Russians always prevailed.

Both teams usually matched up in early rounds of the championship. Last year Germany set up very competitive team at home and fought hard in the semifinals, where the Germans eventually lost to Russia and ended up fourth.

Now the Germany continues in their improvement. "We are not thinking about last year. This year is completely different. We are not at home," said German forward Andre Rankel.

Germany outplayed their opponent. Russia looked helpless for most of the game in spite of having many stars in their line-up, including Ilya Kovalchuk, Alexei Morozov, Vitali Atyushov, Alexander Radulov, Maxim Afinogenov or Yevgeni Nabokov.

"It is first time ever we won against Russia at the World championship. It is great but it is just one game. On Sunday we play against Slovakia, we have to play the same way and have a lot of confidence right now. It will not be easy, Slovakia is a great team with many players from the NHL," added Runkel.

Germany was not under pressure for the most of the game. They even outshot the Russians. "We wanted to shoot a lot. That creates us chances and if you do not shoot, then you cannot score," commented Runkel.

"That was a big hit in our face. We need to wake up," said Ilya Kovalchuk of the Russian team.

The game was almost sold out. There was a vast majority of German fans in the stands. Bratislava is around five or six hours by train from Slovakian capital. "It was very loud out there, what a great atmosphere. There were many German fans cheers for us in the building. It was fun today," admitted Rankel.

Also German coach Uwe Krupp was very proud that his team wrote a history. "We have here the group of players, who represented Germany in U18, U20 and this level for many years. They were able to make many upsets over the years but it is not about to win the games when you are underdog. It is not about making a surprise once in a while. It is about to win the right game, the critical game which you simply have to win to create an success," explained Krupp.

"Russia is the world power in hockey and we started the championship with the toughest possible opponent," said German coach.

Germany started the tournament in a very good way as well as last year, when Germany beat the Team USA in the beginning. "For us it was important to get a good start into the tournament. We were ready for the style of hockey Russia is playing and our players executed well our game plan," explained.

The key of the German success was a goalie Denis Endrass. "We had a very good goaltending and it was one of those days when about everything worked in our favor. I am very proud of the team played many chances, we were aggressive and should overall great effort, said
Uwe Krupp.

Russian coach Vyacheslav Bykov congratulated to Krupp to a historic upset but was critical to his players. "German team played much better than our team. We played very academically, like a group of hockey proffeseurs. We made too many passes and did not take shots. Now we have to play much better against Slovenia," he said.