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Germany and the Czech
Republic hook up in Prague on Friday. Both teams are
struggling at 0-2, and both teams have a lot to
prove.
The Czechs should
know better than to take the Germans lightly. Back
in 1996, the Germans pulled off a huge upset in one
of the most memorable games in tournament history.
Here is the excerpt
from the book THE WORLD CUP OF HOCKEY.
Germany Shocks Czech Republic
Germany 7 - Czech Republic 1
The Germans stunned
the entire hockey world by embarrassing the Czech
Republic 7-1 in Garmisch, Germany. Six different
players scored goals for the Germans, with Jan
Brenda leading the way with a pair of lamp-lighters.
Jaromir Jagr scored the lone Czech goal.
What made the game
even more shocking was that the Germans elected to
start Josef Heiss in net over Olaf Kolzig. Kolzig
was a bonafide NHL goaltender just on the verge of
stardom, while Heiss had no NHL experience at all.
The move was loudly criticized by the North American
media, but in the end it was the media that egg on
their face! Heiss stopped 31 of 32 shots in
Germany's only victory of the tournament.
The Germans had a 3-0
lead after just 6 minutes of play. Mirko Ludermann,
Jurgen Rumrich and Jan Benda all scored against a
lazy Czech team that totally underestimated the
opposition. Thomas Brandl added a 4th tally before
the period was over.
The Canadian born
Benoit Doucet scored the only goal of the 2nd period
to make in 5-0. By this point the Czechs might as
well have thrown in the towel and called it a night.
They looked simply disinterested and frustrated.
Jaromir Jagr awoke
from his slumber and scored early in the third to at
least break Heiss's shutout. However the Germans
added a couple of more goals before the game was out
- Benda with his second and Andreas Lupzig late in
the game.
The win was quickly
cementing Germany's reputation as a David in the
land of Goliaths in international hockey in the late
1990s. During 1996 World Championships Germany upset
Team Canada 5-1, derailing any Canadian dreams of
gold. The Czech Republic went on to win the World
Championships What goes around comes around though,
as now they too fell victim to the German
blitzkrieg.
--
While Jan Benda and
Josef Heiss are not back to help, Germany will be
looking to pull off another in 2004.
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