Ice Hockey World Cup, Group A, Matchday 5 on Friday, 22/05/2026, 16:20
Ice hockey Germany is outraged and I can understand the outrage. Philipp Grubauer clearly had his hand on the puck and the poking that led to the equalizer and later victory of the USA should never have been allowed to get away with the Stars & Stripes!
The good news: The DEB selection is back in the tournament, this point was immensely important and so I take the side of the eagle bearers in my Germany Hungary tip.
My choice fell on the selection Victory GER with HC -3.5, for which you can win odds of around 2.15 at Betano Germany. The motivation is now different and with three wins in a row against beatable opponents, the chances of reaching the quarterfinals are suddenly good again!
Germany has only had strong opponents so far: Switzerland, Finland, USA and Latvia – but now come the games in which Harold Kreis’s boys can really score. Because in all these three “remaining games” they go into the respective game with less than 1.60 favorite odds!
With the motivation to have scored an unexpected point against the Olympic champions, I also expect an energetic start to the mandatory task against the Hungarians after the rest day.
The bet on Germany over 4.5 goals at odds of around 1.85 also seems interesting.
The DEB selection has had a hard time offensively at times so far. Against Finland there was a lack of penetration, against Latvia there was too little pressure directly in front of the goal and against Switzerland they completely lost their grip on the game in the meantime.
However, the performance against the USA seemed much improved. Germany brought more speed to the attacking game and created much more consistent scoring chances.
In addition, the Hungarians were already clearly beaten 6-1 at the last World Cup. That’s exactly why this game could be the moment when the offensive knot finally bursts.
In the area of goalscorer betting, my focus this time is on a defender. Because the selection Moritz Seider meets odds around 3.20 has quite attractive value for me.
The NHL professional already proved his finishing skills against the USA when he successfully put a powerful long-range shot into the net. Especially against deep-lying Hungary, Seider should again get many opportunities to pull away from the second row.
Since Germany is expected to have a lot of possession and the Hungarians are likely to defend compactly, shots from the blue line could become a decisive factor.
If my Germany Hungary tip does not work out, then in my eyes that would already be a valid reason for the association to dismiss the current national coach without notice.
Because the Eagles have never lost against this opponent and their squad is also far superior in quality to that of the Hungarians.
Since 2023, there have been two A-World Cup duels and Germany won both confidently 7-2 and 6-1 respectively – I expect a victory of this magnitude this time as well.
Conclusion: By winning a point against the USA, Germany has created a much better starting position in the fight for the quarter-finals. With 10 points now realistically achievable, progression is still fully within the realm of possibility.
This partial success should also have noticeably relieved the team and released new self-confidence. The Hungarian team has played a decent tournament, but has not been able to land a surprise so far. Against a clearly superior German selection in terms of quality, which is increasingly gaining stability, a rather one-sided course of play is therefore to be expected in the Swiss Life Arena.
