Men's Olympic Hockey Preview - Germany

Germany

Olympic Appearances:
1928, 1932, 1936, 1948, 1956-1964, 1992-Present (United), 1952, 1968-1988 as East/West Germany

Best Finish: 3rd (1932)

Total Medals Won:1

Pool: Sweden, Finland, Belarus

Germany has been kicking around the Olympic Men's Hockey Tournament since 1928, although in many different forms. Prior to WWII, they were of course a unified entry, but with the split into East and West Germany, they competed as separate teams for most of the Cold War. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, Germany's entry has again be unified, although results haven't followed.

Like Switzerland, the Germany program has improved over recent years, and can now normally boast at least a few legitimate NHL Players.

Goalies

 Dennis Endras (Augsburger Panther)
Thomas Greiss (San Jose Sharks)  
Dimitri Pätzold (ERC Ingolstadt)

Defence

Michael Bakos (ERC Ingolstdt)
Christian Ehrhoff (Vancouver Canucks)
Jakub Ficenec (ERC Ingolstadt)
Jason Holland (DEG Metro Stars Düsseldorf)
Korbinian Holzer (DEG Metro Stars Düsseldorf)
Chris Schmidt (Adler Mannheim)
Dennis Seidenberg (Florida Panthers)
Alexander Sulzer (Nashville Predators)

Forward

Alexander Barta (Hamburg Freezers)
Sven Felski (Eisbären Berlin)
Marcel Goc (Nashville Predators)
Philip Gogulla (Portland Pirates)
Thomas Greilinger (ERC Ingolstadt)
Manuel Klinge (Kassel Huskies)
Marcel Müller (Kölner Haie)
Travis James Mulock (Eisbären Berlin)
André Rankel (Eisbären Berlin)
Marco Sturm (Boston Bruins)
John Tripp (Hamburg Freezers)
Michael Wolf (Iserlohn Roosters)

The German roster includes 6 NHL players, which is the most of any outside the traditional hockey powers. As a result, I think this German team can potentially be the 'best of the worst' and maybe even grab a spot in the quarterfinals.

However, for them to do that well, they will first have to escapte a very tough pool with a respectable overall seeding. Odds are that Germany won't beat Finland or Sweden, so their game against Belarus on Day 9 will be a key one for them in terms of determining their ranking in the qualification stage. Win that game, and you can be seeded as high as 5th in the qualification round, maybe grabbing an easier game against someone like the Swiss or Latvia. Lose that Belarus game, and you're probably seeing the USA/Finland/Czechs/Slovaks.

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