The German men's national ice hockey team is the national ice hockey team of Germany and is controlled by the German Ice Hockey Federation. It first participated in serious international competition at the 1911 European Hockey Championship. When Germany was split after World War II, a separate East Germany national ice hockey team 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 Harold Kreis.
Germany has won several medals at the World Championships, including three silver medals in 1930, 1953 and 2023, as well as a silver medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
History West Germany The West German team's greatest success came in 1976 at the Winter Olympics, 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 (7–4).
In 1980, the team did not 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. By 1991, the reunification of East and West Germany meant the inclusion of players from the former East Germany.
Post-unification The team is considered to be slightly behind the Big Six (Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, Sweden and the United States); they are ranked 7th in the world (2026) by the IIHF. Since re-unification, their best result is silver 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. Other top results include finishing in 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, their best placement since 1953. 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.
Competition results
Olympic Games Games Coach Captain Finish 1928 St. Moritz Erich Römer Walter Sachs 10th 1932 Lake Placid Erich Römer Gustav Jaenecke 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Val Hoffinger Rudi Ball 5thIn 1949, Germany was split and was succeeded by West Germany and 1948 St. Moritz did not compete 1952 Oslo Joe Aitken Herbert Schibukat 8th 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo As United Team of Germany Frank Trottier Paul Ambros 6th 1960 Squaw Valley As United Team of Germany Karl Wild Heinz Henschel 6th 1964 Innsbruck As United Team of Germany Egen, Holderied, Unsinn Ernst Trautwein 7th 1968 Grenoble Ed Reigle Heinz Bader 7th 1972 Sapporo Gerhard Kießling Alois Schloder 7th 1976 Innsbruck Xaver Unsinn Alois Schloder 1980 Lake Placid Hans Rampf Rainer Philipp 10th 1984 Sarajevo Xaver Unsinn Erich Kühnhackl 5th 1988 Calgary Xaver Unsinn Udo Kießling 5thIn 1990, West and East Germany united back to Germany 1992 Albertville Luděk Bukač Gerd Truntschka 6th 1994 Lillehammer Luděk Bukač Uli Hiemer 7th 1998 Nagano George Kingston Dieter Hegen 9th 2002 Salt Lake City Hans Zach Jürgen Rumrich 8th 2006 Turin Uwe Krupp Marcel Goc 10th 2010 Vancouver Uwe Krupp Marcel Goc 11th 2014 Sochi did not qualify 2018 Pyeongchang Marco Sturm Marcel Goc 2022 Beijing Toni Söderholm Moritz Müller 10th 2026 Milan / Cortina d'Ampezzo Harold Kreis Leon Draisaitl 6th
Totals Games Gold Silver Bronze Total 16 0 1 2 3
World Championship Year Location Coach Result 1930 Chamonix, / Vienna, / Berlin, ? SilverDid not participate in 1931 1933 Prague, ? 5th place 1934 Milan, ? Bronze 1935 Davos, ? 9th place 1937 London, ? 4th place 1938 Prague, ? 4th place 1939 Basel / Zurich, ? 5th placeDid not participate between 1947 and 1951In 1949, Germany was split and was succeeded by West Germany and 1953 Basel / Zurich, ? Silver 1954 Stockholm, ? 5th place 1955 Düsseldorf / Dortmund / Krefeld / Cologne, ? 6th placeDid not participate between 1957 and 1958 1959 Prague / Brno / Ostrava, ? 7th place 1961 Geneva / Lausanne, ? 8th place 1962 Colorado Springs / Denver, ? 6th place 1963 Stockholm, ? 7th place 1965 Turku / Rauma / Pori, ? 11th place (3rd place in Group B) 1966 Zagreb, ? 9th place (1st place in Group B) 1967 Vienna, ? 8th place (Relegated) 1969 Ljubljana, ? 10th place (4th place in Group B) 1970 Bucharest, ? 8th place (2nd place in Group B) 1971 Bern / Geneva, ? 5th place 1972 Prague, ? 5th place 1973 Moscow, ? 6th place (Relegated) 1974 Ljubljana, ? 9th place (3rd place in Group B) 1975 Sapporo, ? 8th place (2nd place in Group B) 1976 Katowice, ? 6th place 1977 Vienna, ? 7th place 1978 Prague, ? 5th place 1979 Moscow, ? 6th place 1981 Stockholm, ? 7th place 1982 Helsinki / Tampere, ? 6th place 1983 Munich / Dortmund / Düsseldorf, ? 5th place 1985 Prague, ? 7th place 1986 Moscow, ? 7th place 1987 Vienna, ? 6th place 1989 Stockholm / Södertälje, ? 7th place 1990 Bern / Fribourg, ? 7th placeIn 1990, West and East Germany united back to Germany 1991 Turku / Helsinki / Tampere, Erich Kühnhackl 8th place 1992 Prague / Bratislava, Luděk Bukač 6th place 1993 Dortmund / Munich, Luděk Bukač 5th place 1994 Bolzano / Canazei / Milan, Luděk Bukač 9th place 1995 Stockholm / Gävle, George Kingston 9th place 1996 Vienna, George Kingston 8th place 1997 Helsinki / Turku / Tampere, George Kingston 11th place 1998 Zurich / Basel, George Kingston 11th place (Relegated) 1999 Odense / Rødovre, Hans Zach 20th place (4th place in Pool B) 2000 Katowice / Kraków, Hans Zach 17th place (Won Pool B) 2001 Cologne / Hanover / Nuremberg, Hans Zach 8th place 2002 Gothenburg / Karlstad / Jönköping, Hans Zach 8th place 2003 Helsinki / Tampere / Turku, Hans Zach 6th place 2004 Prague / Ostrava, Hans Zach 9th place 2005 Innsbruck / Vienna, Greg Poss 15th place (Relegated) 2006 Amiens, Uwe Krupp 17th place (Won Division I, Group A) 2007 Moscow / Mytishchi, Uwe Krupp 9th place 2008 Quebec City / Halifax, Uwe Krupp 10th place 2009 Bern / Kloten, Uwe Krupp 15th place 2010 Cologne / Mannheim / Gelsenkirchen, Uwe Krupp 4th place 2011 Bratislava / Košice, Uwe Krupp 7th place 2012 Helsinki, / Stockholm, Jakob Kölliker 12th place 2013 Stockholm, / Helsinki, Pat Cortina 9th place 2014 Minsk, Pat Cortina 14th place 2015 Prague / Ostrava, Pat Cortina 10th place 2016 Moscow / Saint Petersburg, Marco Sturm 7th place 2017 Cologne, / Paris, Marco Sturm 8th place 2018 Copenhagen / Herning, Marco Sturm 11th place 2019 Bratislava / Košice, Toni Söderholm 6th place 2020 Zurich / Lausanne, Cancelled 2021 Riga, Toni Söderholm 4th place 2022 Tampere / Helsinki, Toni Söderholm 7th place 2023 Tampere, / Riga, Harold Kreis Silver 2024 Prague / Ostrava, Harold Kreis 6th place 2025 Stockholm, / Herning, Harold Kreis 9th place 2026 Zurich / Fribourg, Harold Kreis 10th place 2027 Düsseldorf / Mannheim,
European Championship Year GP W T L GF GA Finish Rank 1910 Les Avants 3 2 0 1 17 5 Round-robin 1911 Berlin 3 3 0 0 20 1 Round-robin 1912 Prague* 2 1 1 0 6 3 Round-robin 1913 Munich 3 1 0 2 21 16 Round-robin 1914 Berlin 2 1 0 1 4 3 Round-robin 1915–1920 No championships (World War I) 1921–1926 Did not participate 1927 Vienna 5 3 0 2 10 7 Round-robin 1929 Budapest 2 0 0 2 1 3 First round 8th 1932 Berlin 6 1 4 1 5 5 Final round 4th1933–1991 After 1932, the European Championship medals were awarded based on the results of the Ice Hockey World Championships, with Germany receiving in 1930 and 1934
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)
Canada Cup 1984 – Finished in 6th place
Other tournaments Deutschland Cup: Gold medal (1995, 1996, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2025) Nissan Cup: Gold medal (1993)
Team Current roster Roster for the 2026 IIHF World Championship.
Head coach: Harold Kreis
No.Pos.NameHeightWeightBirthdateTeam 1 G ERC Ingolstadt 6 D – A Eisbären Berlin 7 F EHC Red Bull München 9 D Adler Mannheim 12 D Eisbären Berlin 15 F Straubing Tigers 21 F Fischtown Pinguins 25 D ERC Ingolstadt 30 G Seattle Kraken 37 G Adler Mannheim 38 D EHC Red Bull München 40 F Adler Mannheim 43 F EHC Red Bull München 44 F Edmonton Oilers 47 F Schwenninger Wild Wings 48 D EHC Red Bull München 53 D – C Detroit Red Wings 56 F Eisbären Berlin 62 F Fischtown Pinguins 64 D Nürnberg Ice Tigers 65 F Adler Mannheim 71 F Kölner Haie 72 F Lausanne HC 73 F Boston Bruins 75 F Nürnberg Ice Tigers 95 F – A Eisbären Berlin
2026 Olympics roster
Retired numbers 20 – Robert Dietrich 80 - Robert Müller
Notable players
Leon Draisaitl Rudi Ball Christian Ehrhoff Karl Friesen Marcel Goc Thomas Greiss Philipp Grubauer Jochen Hecht Dieter Hegen Gustav Jaenecke Udo Kießling Ralph Krueger Patrick Reimer Olaf Kölzig Erich Kühnhackl Uwe Krupp (also former head coach) Robert Müller Helmut de Raaf Hans Rampf Dennis Seidenberg Alois Schloder Marco Sturm (also former head coach) Xaver Unsinn (also former head coach)
Notable executives Heinz Henschel, president of the German Ice Sport Federation Wolf-Dieter Montag, team physician Roman Neumayer, sport director for the German Ice Hockey Federation
Uniform evolution
All-time record . Opponent Played Won Drawn Lost GF GA GD 1 1 0 0 15 1 +14 57 38 4 15 187 91 +96 29 10 2 17 69 83 -14 14 9 1 4 69 32 +37 4 0 1 3 5 12 -7 1 1 0 0 13 1 +12 132 19 7 106 251 674 -423 1 1 0 0 3 2 +1 59 8 2 49 117 243 −126 65 10 6 49 120 364 −244 30 19 0 11 90 67 +23 20 12 4 4 73 54 +19 10 6 1 3 40 23 +17 2 2 0 0 7 3 +4 122 26 14 82 309 537 −228 47 27 4 16 138 97 +41 15 11 1 3 65 26 +39 23 18 4 1 78 33 +45 1 1 0 0 11 2 +9 59 33 9 17 230 157 +73 23 21 0 2 138 57 +81 12 7 0 5 40 27 +13 42 23 4 15 109 97 +12 11 10 1 0 79 23 +56 50 34 2 14 243 147 +96 54 31 7 16 192 161 +31 Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia 1 0 0 1 1 5 −4 21 17 0 4 100 57 +43 33 5 3 25 62 111 −49 1 1 0 0 14 0 +14 87 38 2 47 206 234 -28 11 8 2 1 41 15 +26 2 2 0 0 10 4 +6 71 0 1 70 111 581 -470 112 12 5 95 200 523 −323 161 72 16 73 528 456 +72 7 3 2 2 18 15 +3 115 31 9 75 316 457 −141 33 21 5 7 173 111 +62Total 1 537 587 119 832 4 467 5 572 -1 099
See also Germany men's national ice sledge hockey team East Germany national ice hockey team
References
External links
IIHF profile National Teams of Ice Hockey