MILAN — For the Geman men’s ice hockey team, the mission at the 2026 Winter Olympics is twofold.
Where hockey powerhouses such as the United States, Canada, Sweden and Finland focus on winning a medal, the Germans do that, too – but there’s also a keen awareness of the impact they can have in a country where hockey is still a growing sport.
“Our ultimate goal is to grow the game back home,” said Seider, a star defenseman for the Detroit Red Wings. “Hopefully, we have little kids become hockey players. Obviously you want to make a name for yourself in your country, you want to be established with the big teams eventually. Ithink it’s a very long way, but I think that should be your goal.
“If we do that, I think we can talk about a successful run at the Olympics. If a little kid wants to become a hockey player, I think I did my job at the end of the day.”
The Germans begin the preliminary round on Thursday, Feb. 12 against Denmark, and then play Latvia on Feb. 14, finishing out Group C play against the U.S. on Feb. 15. Every team advances to the elimination round, so Germany will play at least four games.
“We’re hoping to gather some fans,” Edmonton Oilers star forward Leon Draisaitl said. “We’re hoping to get kids in Germany to tune into our games against Denmark, against Latvia, against the U.S., and for them to be like, ‘Oh, I want to try that sport.’ Because back home, the easiest thing in the world to do is grab a soccer ball and play soccer. For us, it’s time to get kids in Germany to love hockey and enjoy it and enjoy watching it. This is a great stage to do that.”
While the Americans in theory pose the biggest challenge, the Germans lost to the Danes at the 2025 World Championships.
“You can’t underestimate anyone,” said Tim Stützle, a star forward for the Ottawa Senators. “They have a lot of good players as well. They have a lot of players who play in Europe, some really good ones. Some good NHL players too, especially Lars (Eller). I think it’s going to be a fun game.”
Ellier is Stützle’s Senators teammate, as is the Americans’ Brady Tkachuck. But that’s par for the course: Teammates in the NHL, opponents at the international level.
While the powerhouse rosters are loaded with NHLers, Germany doesn’t have the quantity, but there’s certainly quality. Seider and Stützle are alternate captains, while the captain’s C will be worn by Draisaitl, one of the biggest stars in hockey.
“He’s a huge role model, especially in Germany,” Stützle said. “Everybody loves him. I’m really happy for him, he really deserves it. I think there’s a lot of great leaders in this room as well and everybody’s going to help him out. It’ll be awesome to see him play his game.”
Seider said it’s important Germany doesn’t rely solely on the one-two punch of Draisaitl and Stützle.
“They’re going to be huge, but we’ve got to make sure we know that those aren’t the only players we have on our team,” Seider said. “We have great players, otherwise they wouldn’t be here. I think that’s the message we’ve got to send.
“But the way [Draisaitl] looks at the game will help a lot of our guys. He’s so detailed about little things. He’s always in the right spots, rarely makes mistakes in the offensive zone, holds on to pucks forever. Really makes it tough for defensemen to strip pucks from him. If he gives that to some of our young guys, I think it will help big time, because it’s not a one-man show and you can’t win hockey games with one guy.”
In addition to Draisaitl, Stützle and Seider, other NHL players on Germany’s roster include JJ Peterka, Lukas Reichel, Nico Sturm and goaltender Phillipp Grubauer.
“This is a dream come true,” Grubauer said. “There are more and more guys coming over, going to North America, playing a key role with their club. It’s a huge part for Team Germany, too. Development is something going right, I think there’s always something you can do better and get more players over, of course.”
An image of the German team on a podium accepting a medal certainly would leave an impression that would linger. Germany won the silver medal at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics and won bronze in 1976 (Innsbruck) and 1932 (Lake Placid).
“I think we just want to play attractive, modern hockey,” Seider said. “If you go out in overtime in a do-or-die game and you perform really well, I think it’s still going to be a great tournament for everyone. We have the chance to write a little bit of history, hopefully make a name for ourselves, establish ourselves in the world.”
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