Patrick Hager, how do you sum up the 5-1 defeat against Canada?

Marc Heinrich

sports editor.

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It was a weak start.

The first twenty minutes cost us the game.

Canada came out of the dressing room better.

We made it a bit too complicated and didn't force the duels enough.

Of course we had planned to do it differently.

We also allowed too much right in front of our goal.

Both sides had chances in the second and third periods.

At the end of the game, the shots were relatively balanced.

At that level, it's the same old story: if you sleep ten or fifteen minutes, it's often not enough.

Was it the small ice surface, was it the hardness of the Canadians - what are the reasons for the difficulties?

The Canadians will have tended to play more on the smaller ice surface than we have.

You notice that simply is often better because there is no time to turn around and play passes.

There are moments where we can make the game faster.

It started badly with the check against Marco Nowak, in which he injured himself and the following goal to make it 0:1.

How upset did that throw your team?

In principle, we allowed too many chances.

We had them shoot from places we didn't want them to.

We have to get better at that.

We have the chance to do that on Saturday.

How do you rate the check against Nowak, who injured himself and couldn't get back on the ice?

I have to be honest: I didn't really see him.

Only briefly on the video.

Hard to say.

Internationally, of course, they go everywhere.

Marco didn't see him coming and had the disc between his feet.

It will be decisive where the first contact was.

That wasn't immediately apparent to me in the video.

If it's on the chest, it was a good check.

And when he's on the head, it wasn't a good check.

What can you build on?

The reaction after being 3-0 down, how we came back and created chances.

It's a process.

We saw it four years ago at the Olympics in Pyeongchang, we see it every year at the World Championships: a tournament is not won or lost in one game.

Our team is stable.

We stand together.

And of course we will be able to analyze our mistakes in the video.

Then we will be well prepared against China.

It was similar at the 2018 Olympics.

You started with a defeat against Finland.

Do you see parallels?

Yes.

We fought a lot there too and lost out.

What happened today is no reason to bury your head in the sand.

We know we can beat any opponent here in the tournament.

But for that we need 60 minutes of top ice hockey.

We have to start better against China right away and then I won't have any worries here in the tournament.

Recorded in the mixed zone during a pool interview at Wukesong Sports Center by Marc Heinrich.