"Why not us in the quarterfinals too?" Tim Stützle is leading underdog Germans at the World Juniors

Why not us?

That’s what the Germans asked themselves heading into the 2021 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship having participated in this tournament 29 times before, but never advancing past the preliminary round.

Why not us? Why not now?

Their campaign for a quarterfinal berth got a series of devastating blows before the tournament even started. Their star defenseman, Moritz Seider, decided to stay with his club team - Rögle of the SHL; one of their top forwards - Lukas Reichel - was not allowed to participate because of a positive COVID test and, upon arrival, eight of their players tested positive and had to quarantine until December 29th, but there was one saving grace.

Tim Stützle.

Selected third overall by the Ottawa Senators earlier this year, it was no secret that the 18-year-old, 6-