Not to ruin the hype, but this shouldn’t be a close game at all.
Germany is without nine players, they’ve hardly practiced together, they battled Finland hard yesterday in a loss where everyone averaged 21 minutes of ice time and they’re only going to have 14 skaters once again.
Canada losing Dach is obviously a huge blow, but we’re past that now. The red and white have a chance to make a statement with a German team that should have been serious competition, but COVID and questionable choices have them hoping to stay afloat.
Deutschland has some fire power in Tim Stützle, John-Jason Peterka and Florian Elias, but they’re not quite at the level where they can steal a round robin game short-benched against a powerhouse. Questionable goaltending as well.
In their 5-3 loss against Finland on Christmas, small forward Samuel Dubé stood out with his speed and tenacity. Fun player to watch, not afraid to go to the net and not afraid to take risks. I could see Germany scoring once or twice, but their goaltending and defence is super suspect.
As for Canada, they’re coming into this game with some new lines thanks to a blender practice and Dach’s injury. I’m not going to say point night, but it’s a damn good night to pad those numbers.
Puck drops at 4pm in Edmonton.
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CJ
Photo Credit : Matthew Murnaghan/Hockey Canada Images
