Germany adds Draisaitl 8 years after its top Olympics hockey achievement

FILE — Jonas Muller (41), of Germany, celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal during the third period of the men's gold medal hockey game against the Olympic athletes from Russia at the 2018 Winter Olympics, Sunday, Feb. 25, 2018, in Gangneung, South Korea. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

MILAN (AP) — Moritz Muller still gets goosebumps eight years later when thinks about the run to the gold medal game that he and his Germany teammates went on at the 2018 Olympics in South Korea.

“Getting into the finals was unbelievable,” Muller said. “Core memories.”

Germany blew a lead in the final minute and lost in overtime to the Russians, who had a stacked roster with Pavel Datsyuk, Ilya Kovalchuk and Kirill Kaprizov in a tournament without NHL participants. With that silver medal still cherished but long in the rear-view mirror, Muller is one of three players still around from that group, and Germany now gets to add superstar Leon Draisaitl and others in hopes of springing more upsets at the Olympics.

Muller believes “the limelight on the whole team is so much bigger” when Draisaitl is around.

“I don’t even think we have to talk about it how big of an impact he’s going to have on the team,” Muller said, rattling off the names of Moritz Seider, Tim Stützle and JJ Peterka as additional talent coming. “I think this is going to be a fun experience to see all that coming together.”

The 2018 run was the best result in the country’s history at the Olympics, and Germany is again a considerable long shot in Milan, with NHL players back for every team for the first time since 2014. Draisaitl, the 2020 Hart Trophy winner as NHL MVP who has helped Edmonton make the Stanley Cup Final in back-to-back seasons, is by far the biggest reason for hope of a longer-than-expected stay in Italy.

“He’s one of the top three players in the world and really proud that we have him on our team,” Dominik Kahun said. “He’s going to do big things for us.”

Kahun, Moritz Muller and Jonas Muller (no relation) remain from the last time Germany defied the odds at the Olympics. Moritz, the captain for the past seven years, credits now-Boston Bruins coach Marco Sturm for changing the direction of the national team.

“German hockey, we had a lot of complexes about ourselves and didn’t really believe in ourselves,” Moritz Muller said. “(Before that), we basically went to tournaments and said, ‘OK, we’re going to participate,’ but I don’t think we believed ourselves being able to beat Canada or Russia. And he gave us that belief, so I think 2018 gave us the proof that he was right.”

There will always be a “what if?” aspect of the improbable run. Allowing a short-handed goal with 56 seconds left paved the way for the team known as the Olympic Athletes from Russia to beat Germany on Kaprizov’s golden goal in OT.

“We had the lead and then we get the power play and then we get scored on our own power play,” Jonas Muller recalled. “I think it was still a great tournament for us.”

There remains plenty to be proud of. Kahun’s family made him a framed keepsake of his silver medals from the Olympics and the 2023 world championships that he has hanging in his home.

It’s a reminder of the peak of German hockey.

“It’s so far behind, (and) you want to stay in the moment,” Kahun said. “You want to always do the best with where you’re at now but always nice to look back, obviously. Always a good feeling to think about.”

What’s ahead are games against Denmark on Thursday, Latvia on Feb. 14 and the U.S. on Feb. 15. Beyond that is either a qualification-round game or the quarterfinals, and the presence of Philipp Grubauer — in the midst of one of his best pro seasons — gives Germany a potential hot goaltender who can steal a game in single-elimination playoffs.

“Eventually it’s going to be one game it’s going to come down to, and you need your goalie,” Moritz Muller said. “He has been there for us many years, and I’m sure he’ll be this time again.”

Jonas Muller hopes the current team can approach the Olympics like in 2018, one game at a time, and Kahun thinks quintessential values will give Germany a chance.

“It’s the sticking together,” Kahun said. “It doesn’t matter which group we have of boys, we’re always flying together. … Play as a team, everybody stick to the system and then we’ll see.

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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Stephen Whyno, The Associated Press