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Germany qualifies for Pyeongchang 2018

September 4, 2016

Germany needed to beat Latvia to ensure qualification for the Winter Olympics in 2018. Tom Kühnhackl of the Stanley Cup champions, the Pittsburgh Penguins, scored a late winner to seal a 3-2 win.

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Eishockey Olympia-Qualifikation Lettland - Deutschland
Image: picture alliance/dpa/S. Diepold

Germany's national ice hockey team qualified for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang with a 3-2 victory over Latvia in Riga on Sunday.

Tom Kühnhackl of the Stanley Cup champions, the Pittsburgh Penguins, got the winning goal at 14:51 of the third period.

Leon Draisaitl and Felix Schütz had put Germany in complete control as they went into a 2-0 lead early in the second period.

However, Latvia, playing in front of a loud home crowd, fought back to even the score at 2-2, early in the third period, putting the game on a knife edge until Kühnhackl's winner eight minutes later.

"Things couldn't be going any better for me at the moment," Kühnhackl told German broadcaster Sport 1 afterwards. "When you are up 2-0, nerves play a role. But we stood together as a team," he said.

This was Germany's third win in their three games in the Olympic-qualifying tournament, after a 5-0 win over Japan and a 6-0 win over Austria.

This makes them Germany's first team and athletes to qualify for Pyeongchang 2018.

mds/pfd (SID,dpa)