2026 Olympic Men’s Hockey: Top standouts from Germany vs. USA
The United States will move on to the quarterfinal as the No. 2 seed after beating Germany 5-1 on Sunday evening in Italy.
The Americans will play the winner of Tuesday’s qualification round game between Sweden and Latvia once the quarterfinal rolls around on Wednesday. Germany, meanwhile, will play France on Tuesday, with the chance to face Slovakia the following day.
The game started off tied for the first 19:50 before Zach Werenski tallied his first of the tournament. Auston Matthews was able to double the advantage at 23:25, giving USA some breathing room.
Brock Faber’s goal at 37:35 made it 3-0, essentially putting the game out of reach. Tage Thompson would score his second of the tournament early in the third, and Matthews would add another to finish off the convincing victory. Tim Stutzle would add a goal late in the game, but by then, it was already too late.
Here’s a look at the top performers from the final game of the round robin:
Germany
#37 Maximilian Franzreb, G: Franzreb has never played a bigger game in his career – he has never even played a World Championship game. But Franzreb looked dialed in from the get-go, keeping the team in it early after the Germans seemed to start slow against the Americans. Not a bad first impression for a guy who was thrown to the wolves.
#53 Moritz Seider, D (Detroit Red Wings): Germany’s lack of high-end offensive weapons behind Leon Draisaitl and Tim Stutzle was noticeable from the opening puck drop, but they could at least rely on Seider to generate opportunities. Seider had five shots through the first half of the game, partly thanks to the power play. He hasn’t been as flashy as we’ve seen him at other tournaments for Germany but he’s clearly more versatile than basically anyone else on that blueline.
United States
#14 Brock Faber, D (Minnesota Wild): Faber’s tournament has had some highs and lows, but it felt like he was relieved after the 3-0 goal. Faber is a good skater who does a great job of stealing pucks and breaking up plays. He got a bit ambitious against Denmark and it bit him a few times yesterday, but he made up for it by buttoning down his game and focusing on his strengths.
#12 Matt Boldy, RW (Minnesota Wild): Boldy was buzzing early in this one, taking five of the team’s 14 shots in the opening frame. He finished with a team-leading eight overall – crazy. Boldy loves spending time around the crease, and the puck never seems to leave the zone when he’s out on the ice. Boldy is relentless, smart and has great hands. He doesn’t have the points to challenge for the scoring lead, but he has been one of USA’s best wingers.
#19 Matthew Tkachuk, RW (Florida Panthers): With two assists and three shots, Tkachuk looked great, as expected. His line with Brady and Jack Eichel has been lights out for USA, with Tkachuk also not being afraid to get physical. He and Leon Draisaitl seemed married to each other all game, too. If there’s anything Tkachuk is good at, it’s making as much noise as humanly possible.
#34 Auston Matthews, C (Toronto Maple Leafs): If you were hoping for more from Matthews today, you got it. He set up the 1-0 goal late in the first and then scored the second and fifth goals to make it a blowout victory. Matthews looked so energized in this one – he wanted to go for the goal differential, even if it became quickly evident they weren’t going to score 10. Still, you need your biggest stars to shine in the biggest moments and Matthews was very impactful around the net.
#91 Clayton Keller, LW (Utah Mammoth): While Keller didn’t do much with the puck, I liked his pace of play. He moved well, won a lot of individual battles and gave the team a nice jolt in the bottom six. Kyle Connor simply wasn’t doing enough away from the puck, but Keller played like he wanted to stick around for the playoff round.
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