Tim Stützle scored a goal on Sunday. Lukas Reichel scored a goal on Sunday. And on Sunday, John-Jason ("JJ") Peterka scored a goal. The first in the NHL elite league, the others in the AHL, the second highest division in North America. It was an evening according to the wishes of the German Ice Hockey Federation (DEB): His three greatest forward talent since Leon Draisaitl show that all the advance laurels are justified. The problem, however, is that the 19-year-olds will not wear the national jersey for the foreseeable future. Because of the Omikron variant, the Olympics take place without players from North American leagues. Even at the U-20 World Cup, which starts on Sunday, Stützle, Reichel and Peterka will not be on the ice. They don't approve of their clubs.

DEB sports director Christian Künast is nevertheless convinced to "send a strong team into the race". What should he also say? For years you can hear and read about the "golden generation of German ice hockey". There is not only Draisaitl, there were also three times in a row German players were drawn in the first round of the annual talent drawing of the NHL. First Dominik Bokk (2018) and Moritz Seider (2019), who have meanwhile outgrown the U 20s. In 2020, Stützle and Reichel followed, Peterka was drawn at the beginning of the second round. But not only because the series ended in 2021, the question now arises: Are these exceptions, or has German ice hockey also caught up in terms of breadth?

The answer is likely to come from the U-20 World Cup in Edmonton, Canada, which is of "paramount importance" (Künast) in the motherland of ice hockey. The games are played in the large NHL halls, with millions watching in front of the screens when the future superstars compete from Christmas to early January. Also this year there are various players who are predicted to have millions of careers. Owen Power, for example, already world champion with the Canadian men in Latvia in June, and then drafted to number one. His teammates Shane Wright and Connor Bedard, who are considered the world's best of the next two years, are also part of it, as is Matvej Mitchkow, the youngest player to ever make his debut in the Russian national team.

Germans do not have such talents to offer. But national coach Tobias Abstreiter speaks of a "good squad: a third of the team has already been able to take the experience of the last World Cup with them." That also took place in Edmonton, and although the DEB selection was hit hard by Corona at the beginning, it came in Quarter finals. For the first time ever. At that time, however, Stützle and Peterka also played.

Now at least her row partner Florian Elias from Mannheim is still there.

Luca Münzenberger, who plays for his college in the USA, stands out in defense.

The two and the rest of the team will play against Finland, the Czech Republic, Canada and Austria from Sunday (live on MagentaSport).

The Germans have to win at least one game in order to reach the quarter-finals.

And to prove that they have also caught up in terms of width.