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Thomas Greiss made his Olympic debut against Team Canada at 19-years-old. |
Group B fights for
final quarterfinal birth
By Rich Libero | NHL.com
Feb. 16, 2006
TORINO, Italy -- Germany set a modest goal heading into the 2006 Winter Olympics: Make the quarterfinals.
"We came here and set a goal for ourselves to make it to the quarterfinals and we know it's not going to be easy," said German defenseman Sascha Goc.
The Germans were cast into Group A with the defending gold medalists and heavy favorites Canada as well as an up-and-coming team in the Swiss, the ever-dangerous Czech Republic, the hometown Italians and the tough Finns.
Things are a little different for Germany than they were in the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics where they were the best of a batch of longshots (although Belarus turned out to be the David among Goliaths).
Starting Saturday, the fight for the fourth spot in Group B will get underway when Germany drops the puck against Italy. Both teams have played scrappy games against tougher opponents and have two losses. But both have jiggered their goaltending rotation just for this matchup.
The Italians rested starter Jason Muzzatti on Thursday against Finland while the Germans gave Washington's Olaf Kolzig the day off against the Canadians.
The Kolzig move was puzzling to some, but when you consider that Kolzig would've played five games in six nights, it makes sense. So does the fact that they are lining him up for Italy and a showdown with Switzerland's David Aebischer. Again, flawlessly logical.
And then you watch the play of Thomas Greiss, the 19-year-old who made his Olympic debut against Team Canada on Thursday and you suddenly realize that Germany has sufficient depth in goal to make this move a luxury.
Greiss stopped 35 of 40 Canadian shots and had several successful combinations of saves in a 5-1 loss. He drew praise from Canadian coach Pat Quinn: "That 5-on-3 we had in the third period, he came up with some huge saves."
"Thomas Greiss is a young goaltender. He's 19 years old and dreams of playing in the NHL," said German coach Uwe Krupp. "This young goaltender has played tremendously in Germany and elevated his game to be the top goaltender in Germany this year."
Each year it seems that Team Germany stocks its roster with more NHL-level players. They came to Torino with five NHLers: San Jose's Christian Ehrhoff and Marcel Goc, Kolzig, Ottawa's Christoph Schubert and Phoenix's Dennis Seidenberg. They also have Sascha Goc who has spent time with New Jersey and Tampa Bay.
"We had the potential to have more," Krupp said. "But not having Marco Sturm and Jochen Hecht is like Canada not having Mario and Wayne."
The Germans might've been a formidable side with the offensive skills of the injured Sturm and Hecht. Without them, they will have to rely on Kolzig, hard work, discipline and luck.
In the future, however, the Germans hope to have enough depth where losing two players won't hurt them as badly.
"We have coaches that do a lot of work with young players," Krupp said. "One of the countries we look up to is Finland because they are small country in terms of population and they create their players. We try to create and work with the young players extensively."
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"This young goaltender has played tremendously in Germany and elevated his game to be the top goaltender in Germany this year." -- Team Germany head coach Uwe Krupp on Thomas Greiss
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Unfortunately for the Germans, the Swiss are moving along the same track. They boast terrific depth in goal with Colorado's Aebischer and Carolina's Martin Gerber. Defenseman Mark Streit, who scored the game-winner Thursday against the Czech Republic with a ripper of a wrist shot, plays for Montreal. They have veteran leadership in Paul DiPietro who won a Stanley Cup with Montreal in 1993.
"I don't know as much about them as (assistant coach) Marc Habscheid, who has great familiarity with the Swiss team, and what happened today is no fluke," Quinn said about the Swiss win over the Czechs. "The Swiss have come a long way."
Italian forward Tony Tuzzolino humbly called his team "probably the least-talented team in the tournament". What Italians lack in the skill they make up for with grit. They will have plenty of fans packing the building for their games.
"I saw a little of their game today," Sascha Goc said. "They work hard and it's going to be tough."
It seems as though the talent pool is beginning to get deeper around the world. It's not only good for the countries mentioned above, but also for hockey in general.
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