The praise came from the highest level: "It looks like he can come through the middle with a lot of speed.

I look forward to playing with him," Patrick Kane said in mid-January.

Kane, an icon in the North American professional league NHL, spoke at the time about Lukas Reichel, one of these exciting German ice hockey talents.

A little later they stood together for the Chicago Blackhawks on the ice for the first time, for Reichel the fulfillment of a childhood dream: debut in the strongest league in the world, alongside his idol Kane.

"Obviously a huge thing for me," said the 20-year-old on Friday in Helsinki.

He and Leon Gawanke traveled there after the end of their club season to support the German team at the World Cup.

But they arrived too late to intervene in the 1-0 win over the Danes.

On Friday they were there when the Germans clinched their fourth win in a row in a 9-4 win over Italy.

Even before the final group games against Kazakhstan (Sunday) and Switzerland (Tuesday) they are almost certain of reaching the quarter-finals.

Reichel scored a goal and set up two more.

And he was the lightning-fast striker who could carry the puck into the attacking zone.

That's how he imagined it, "so that the others can see: the little one who runs and wants," said Reichel, who is not really small at 1.83 meters.

In ice hockey, this means the width.

Reichel still lacks that.

What was seen during his eleven NHL appearances.

In duels he was often at a disadvantage.

He spent most of his first North American season with the Blackhawks in Rockford, scoring 59 points in 61 games, a club record for a rookie.

But he knows: Physically he has to grow.

"It will be an important summer for me," says Reichel, who is now in demand at the World Cup.

Italy was a grateful opening opponent, the Germans were superior in all respects.

Which was not only due to Reichel's speed or Gawanke's hard and precise passes: Alexander Karachun, Kai Wissmann and Yasin Ehliz also scored their first goals of the tournament, Daniel Fischbuch made it 4-0 before the first break.

Reichel also made his goal in the middle section.

He prepared the next of Fischbuch.

In the last third, Ehliz, Karachun and Samuel Soramies followed suit.