Storyline:
It’s been a year and a half since the last Women’s World Championship, but Team Germany remains largely the same. The program has a core group of young players who have grown in experience individually over the past few years and are looking to translate that into increasingly stronger international appearances.
Germany finished in eight place in last year’s Women’s World Championship, earning a 2-2 record in the group stage with wins over Norway and Hungary and losses to Japan and Sweden and moving on to the quarterfinals, where they were knocked out by top-seeded USA 3-0.
They finished in seventh place in the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics, also in the quarterfinals, with their journey ending with a 4-1 loss to Canada.
Notably, Olympians Charlott Schaffrath, Katharina Häckelsmiller, and Anne Bartsch are absent from this tournament’s roster, but this gives an opportunity for some of Germany’s younger players who were not part of the Olympic team to showcase the development they’ve had over the past year and a half.
University of Wisconsin commit Alexandra Boico was just 15 at the last Women’s World Championship, and now rejoins the squad at 17 after playing with the ever-formidable Bishop Kearney Selects in the United States. Hanna Weichenhain was 16 at her last tournament, and now returns at 18 after starting her season with the Eisbären Juniors Berlin strong, posting five points (2g, 3a) across nine games.
Players to Watch:
Germany returns starting goaltender Sandra Abstreiter, who put up a .923 save percentage and a 2.22 goals against average across last year’s five games. The Providence College alum served as the number two goaltender for the Montreal Victoire behind Ann-Renee Desbiens last season, earning five starts with a .905 save percentage and a 2.62 GAA. She is currently a free agent and has spent training camp with one of the latest expansion teams in PWHL Hamilton, but a quality performance in international competition could help her make her case for another full-time PWHL role.
Germany’s 2026 IIHF Women’s World Championship roster also includes all of their top scorers from the past year’s international play, such as the country’s all-time leading scorer Laura Kluge, also of the Boston Fleet, who led Team Germany in both the 2025 IIHF Women’s World Championship with four points (1g, 3a) and the 2026 Olympics with seven (3g, 4a). The 29-year-old athlete will be joined by Lilli Welcke (four points in 2025 Women’s Worlds), Nicole Eisenschmid (four points in 2026 Olympics), and Daria Gleißner (four points in 2026 Olympics), who all should be expected to contribute to Germany’s scoring.
What Success Looks Like:
Germany has placed between sixth and ninth in each World Championship since 2019, which means relegation is a concern for the team. They’ve been relegated twice since the IIHF Women’s World Championship began, in 2008 after finishing ninth and in 2015 after finishing eighth.
This year, Germany is part of the tournament’s Group A, facing the United States, Czechia, Switzerland, and Austria during the group stage. This is a challenging bracket, with both the United States (gold) and Switzerland (bronze) medaling in the recent Winter Olympics. Additionally, Czechia played in the third-place game of last year’s Worlds, dropping 4-3 in OT to Finland, but still skating to a strong finish. Austria is the biggest wild card in this group. The team was promoted to Top Division for the first time after finishing first in Division 1A in 2025, and will be looking to hold on to that spot, which makes them an interesting foe for Germany to keep an eye on.
Group Stage Schedule:
Germany vs. Austria – Saturday, Nov. 7 at 7:00 p.m. local (1:00 p.m. EST)
USA vs. Germany – Sunday, Nov. 8 at 3:00 p.m. local (9:00 a.m. EST)
Czechia vs. Germany – Tuesday, Nov. 10 at 3:00 p.m. local (9:00 a.m. EST)
Germany vs. Switzerland – Wednesday, Nov. 11 at 3:00 p.m. local (9:00 a.m. EST)
