The German men's national ice hockey team is the national

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

team of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and is controlled by the

German Ice Hockey Federation The German Ice Hockey Federation (), commonly abbreviated as DEB, is the governing federation of German ice hockey associations. It was established on 16 June 1963 in Krefeld. Until 1990 it served only the old Federal Republic of Germany and West ...

. It first participated in serious international competition at the 1911 European Hockey Championship. When Germany was split after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, a separate

East Germany national ice hockey team The East German national men's ice hockey team was a national ice hockey representing the German Democratic Republic (GDR). The first international game was played in East Berlin on 28 January 1951, losing 3–8 to Team Poland. The team compe ...

existed until 1990. By 1991, the West and East German teams and players were merged into the United German team. The team's head coach is

Toni Söderholm Toni Kristian Söderholm (born 14 April 1978) is a Finnish ice hockey coach and a retired ice hockey defenceman. He is the head coach of the German men's national team. Playing career A native of Finland's capital city of Helsinki, Söderholm pl ...

. Germany has won several medals at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

, including two silver medals in 1930 and 1953, as well as a silver medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics, the team's biggest success in the 21st century.

History

West Germany

The West German team's greatest success came in 1976 at the

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

, when the team went 2–3–0 and won the bronze medal. The Swedish and Canadian teams, traditionally two hockey powerhouses, had boycotted the 1976 Games in protest of the amateur rules that allowed Eastern Bloc countries to send their best players while keeping Western nations from doing the same. West Germany's wins in the 1976 Games came against the United States (4–1) and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

(7–4). In 1980, the team didn't do as well and only won one game in the preliminary round, which kept them from advancing. They finished 10th out of 12. In 1984, the team was invited to the

Canada Cup The Canada Cup (french: Coupe Canada) was an invitational international ice hockey tournament held on five occasions between 1976 and 1991. The brainchild of Toronto lawyer Alan Eagleson, the tournament was created to meet demand for a true worl ...

. By 1991, the reunification of East and West Germany meant the inclusion of players from the former

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

Post-unification

The team is not considered to be as elite as

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

or the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, but they are ranked 7th in the world (2019) by the

IIHF The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; french: Fédération internationale de hockey sur glace; german: Internationale Eishockey-Föderation) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 83 m ...

. Since re-unification, their best recent results include finishing 6th place at the 2003 World Championships where they lost a close quarter-final match in overtime to Canada, and 4th at the 2010 World Championships where they lost to Sweden in the bronze medal game. Previously, they finished third in the European Group and qualified for the quarter-finals at the 1996 World Cup after a surprising 7–1 victory against the Czech Republic. In the 1992 Olympics, they lost to Canada 4–3 in an overtime shoot-out in the quarter-finals. Germany has never won an international competition, and their most recent medal was

silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

in the 2018 Olympic Winter Games, when they lost to the Olympic Athletes From Russia 4–3 in overtime. It was the first time that Germany had reached the Gold Medal Game at the Winter Olympics. This was their best result, tied with a silver medal at the 1930 World Championships. There are 25,934 registered players in Germany (0.03% of its population). Team Germany finished in 4th place at the 2010 IIHF World Championship, their best placement since 1953. File:1993 IIHF World Championship FIN-GER.jpg,

and Germany in 1993 World Championships File:Deutsche-nationalmannschaft-wm-2005-20050509007.jpg, The German national team at the 2005 World Championship

Competition results

Olympic Games

World Championship

* 1930 – Won * 1933 – Finished in 5th place * 1934 – Won * 1935 – Finished in 9th place * 1937 – Finished in 4th place * 1938 – Finished in 4th place * 1939 – Finished in 5th place * 1953 – Won * 1954 – Finished in 5th place * 1955 – Finished in 6th place * 1959 – Finished in 7th place * 1961 – Finished in 8th place * 1962 – Finished in 6th place * 1963 – Finished in 7th place * 1965 – Finished in 11th place (3rd in "B" Pool) * 1966 – Finished in 9th place (Won "B" Pool) * 1967 – Finished in 8th place * 1969 – Finished in 10th place (4th in "B" Pool) * 1970 – Finished in 8th place (2nd in "B" Pool) * 1971 – Finished in 5th place * 1972 – Finished in 5th place * 1973 – Finished in 6th place * 1974 – Finished in 9th place (3rd in "B" Pool) * 1975 – Finished in 8th place (2nd in "B" Pool) * 1976 – Finished in 6th place * 1977 – Finished in 7th place * 1978 – Finished in 5th place * 1979 – Finished in 6th place * 1981 – Finished in 7th place * 1982 – Finished in 6th place * 1983 – Finished in 5th place * 1985 – Finished in 7th place * 1986 – Finished in 7th place * 1987 – Finished in 6th place * 1989 – Finished in 7th place * 1990 – Finished in 7th place

European Championship

*1912 Championship was later annulled because Austria was not a member of the IIHF at the time of the competition.

World Cup of Hockey

* 1996 – lost in quarterfinals * 2004 – lost in quarterfinals * 2016 – Won (as part of

Team Europe Team Europe may refer to a number of sports team using the designate to represent a unified team of European countries in sporting competitions. Whilst neither the European Union nor the Council of Europe are countries themselves, European teams ...

)

Canada Cup

* 1984 – Finished in 6th place

Other tournaments

Deutschland Cup The Deutschland Cup is an in-season international ice hockey tournament hosted by the German Ice Hockey Federation which has been contested in most years since 1987. Early years (1987–1997) In 1987, the German Ice Hockey Federation created the ...

: Gold medal ( 1995, 1996, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2021, 2022) *

Nissan Cup Nissan Cup (french: Coupe Nissan) was an ice hockey tournament for men's national teams, which was played in Switzerland between 1988 Nissan Cup, 1988-1994 Nissan Cup (November), 1994. Originally played in November, the tournament was later moved ...

: Gold medal ( 1993)

Team

Current roster

Roster for the 2022 IIHF World Championship. Head coach:

Retired numbers

* 20 – Robert Dietrich

Notable players

Leon Draisaitl Leon Tim Draisaitl (; born 27 October 1995) is a German professional ice hockey centre and alternate captain for the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League (NHL). Draisaitl grew up playing hockey in Germany until he was selected second ove ...

Rudi Ball Rudi Victor Ball (June 22, 1911 – September 19, 1975) was a Germany ice hockey player. He is a member of the IIHF Hall of Fame. Early and personal life Ball was born in Berlin, Germany and died in Johannesburg, South Africa. Jewish her ...

Christian Ehrhoff Christian Ehrhoff (born 6 July 1982) is a German former professional ice hockey defenceman. In 2018, he won silver at the Winter Olympics. He played more than 800 games in the National Hockey League (NHL) and more than 300 in the Deutsche Eisho ...

Karl Friesen Karl Heinz Friesen (born June 30, 1958) is a Canadian-born German former professional ice hockey goaltender. Friesen spent most of his career in Germany, playing in the Eishockey-Bundesliga and Deutsche Eishockey Liga, but he also played four ga ...

Marcel Goc Marcel Goc (; born 24 August 1983) is a German former professional ice hockey player. Goc's father Josef played hockey in his native Czechoslovakia, he has two brothers who also play professional hockey. His older brother Sascha has played for ...

Thomas Greiss Thomas Greiss (born 29 January 1986) is a German professional ice hockey goaltender for the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League (NHL). Selected 94th overall in the third round of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft by the San Jose Sharks, he has ...

Philipp Grubauer Philipp Grubauer (born 25 November 1991) is a German professional ice hockey goaltender for the Seattle Kraken of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was drafted by the Washington Capitals in the fourth round, 112th overall, of the 2010 NHL Ent ...

Jochen Hecht Jochen Thomas Hecht (born 21 June 1977) is a German ice hockey coach and a former professional ice hockey player. He has been serving as assistant coach for Adler Mannheim since March 2022. Hecht played 833 games in the National Hockey League (N ...

Dieter Hegen Dieter Hegen (born April 29, 1962 in Kaufbeuren, West Germany) is a retired professional ice hockey player who played in the Eishockey-Bundesliga and its replacement the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. Playing career Hegen began playing for his hometown ...

* Gustav Jaenecke *

Udo Kießling Udo Kießling (born 21 May 1955) is a German retired ice hockey player. He competed at all Winter Olympics from 1976 to 1992, thus becoming the first ice hockey player to compete at five Olympics. He represented West Germany at the 1984 Canada ...

Ralph Krueger Ralph Krueger (born 31 August 1959) is a Canadian-born German professional ice hockey coach and former player. He is the former head coach of the Edmonton Oilers and Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League (NHL), and former chairman of South ...

Olaf Kölzig Olaf Kölzig (born 6 April 1970) is a South African-born German former professional ice hockey goaltender and current goaltender coach and player development coach for the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League (NHL). With the excepti ...

Erich Kühnhackl Erich Kühnhackl (born 17 October 1950) is a German former professional ice hockey player, born and raised in Czechoslovakia. He is one of the all-time greats of German ice hockey and was named Germany's ice hockey player of the 20th century in ...

Uwe Krupp Uwe or UWE may refer to * Uwe (given name) * University of the West of England, Bristol * UML-based web engineering * University Würzburg's Experimental miniaturized satellites for space research UWE-1 and UWE-2 * Uwe - Wreck in Blankenese Blank ...

(also former head coach) * Robert Müller * Helmut de Raaf * Hans Rampf * Dennis Seidenberg * Alois Schloder *

Marco Sturm Marco Johann Sturm (born September 8, 1978) is a German professional ice hockey coach and former winger who played in the National Hockey League and Deutsche Eishockey Liga. He is currently the Head Coach of the Ontario Reign. Sturm began his ca ...

(also former head coach) *

Xaver Unsinn Xaver Unsinn (29 November 1929 – 4 January 2012) was a German ice hockey player and coach. His greatest success was winning the bronze medal at the 1976 Winter Olympics as coach of the Germany men's national ice hockey team, German national tea ...

(also former head coach)

Uniform evolution

File:Germany national ice hockey team jerseys 1994 (WOG).png, 1994 Olympic jersey File:Germany national ice hockey team jerseys 1998 Olympics.png, 1998 Olympic jerseys File:Germany national hockey team jerseys.png, former IIHF jerseys File:Germany national hockey team jerseys 2014.png, 2014–2017 IIHF jerseys File:Germany national ice hockey team jerseys 2018 (WOG).png, 2018 Olympic jerseys File:Germany national ice hockey team jerseys 2018 IHWC.png, 2018– IIHF jerseys File:Germany national ice hockey team jerseys 2022 (WOG).png, 2022 Olympic jerseys

Notable executives

Heinz Henschel Heinz Henschel (27 January 1920 – 21 October 2006) was a German ice hockey player, sports administrator, and banker. He played for 24 seasons and won two German championships as a member of the Berliner Schlittschuhclub. He later became a bank ...

, president of the German Ice Sport Federation *

Wolf-Dieter Montag Wolf-Dieter Montag (10 December 1924 – 21 July 2018) was a German physician, sports medicine specialist, mountain rescue doctor, and international sports administrator. His medical career spanned 50 years in his native Bavaria, and included be ...

, team physician *

Roman Neumayer Roman Neumayer (1930/1931 – 23/24 December 2015) was a German ice hockey executive, coach and player. He served as the sport director of the German Ice Hockey Federation from 1970 to 1986, and as technical director for the International Ice Ho ...

, sport director for the

References

External links

*
IIHF profileNational Teams of Ice Hockey
{{DEFAULTSORT:Germany Men's National Ice Hockey Team Ice hockey teams in Germany National ice hockey teams in Europe