Germany's ups and downs in international ice hockey

Winning bronze at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck remains Germany's biggest international success. Among the stars of that team was the greatest German of his era, Erich Kühnhackl (No. 14), who is the father of the Pittsburgh Penguins' Tom Kühnhackl. Udo Kiessling (No. 4) spent almost all of his career in Germany, but did play one NHL game for the Minnesota North Stars in the early 1980s.

Going into their last game the West German players were convinced that they needed to beat the US by four to win bronze, and with a 4-1 lead late in the third, they pleaded with coach Xaver Unsinn (above) to pull the goalie for an extra attacker. Unsinn, though, refused to do so. After the game an IIHF official informed them that they had won bronze - based on a better "goal ratio" than Finland.

The 1983 worlds saw the hosts, West Germany, face East Germany twice. In the first game, the West Germans edged their Eastern counterparts 4-3, before beating them 7-3 in the second. Both were hotly contested matches. Here, East Germany's Detlef Radant (right) gets his stick up on the West's Holger Meitinger. West Germany finished in fifth place in the tournament, one spot above East Germany.

At the 1992 Winter Games, Germany, led by captain Gerd Truntschka (photo), faced Canada in the quarterfinals. The Germans battled to a 3-3 draw, sending the contest to a penalty shootout. It all came down to Germany's sixth shot, taken by Peter Draisaitl (father of Edmonton Oilers star Leon). Draisaitl beat the goalie, but the puck stopped on the goal line, handing the decision to the Canadians.

As the hosts of the 1993 World Championship in Munich and Dortmund, Dieter Hegen's Germany came second in Group B with wins over Norway, France, Finland and the United States. In the quarterfinals though, they ran up against the eventual goal-medal winners, Russia, who dispatched the Germans 5-1. Germany, though finished a respectable fifth in the tournament.

The 1998 Olympics in Nagano were the first in which NHL players competed. Germany, including Thomas Brandl (pictured above), finished second in their preliminary group, beating Japan and France but losing to Belarus, who advanced to the next round. Germany wrapped up their tournament by beating Slovakia 4-2.

The World Championship was back in Germany in 2001. This time they were coached by the man nicknamed the "Alpenvulkan" (volcano of the Alps), Hans Zach. Despite the passion of the coach and his players, Germany's tournament was over after a 4-1 defeat by Finland in the playoffs. Germany finished in eighth place in the tournament.

The last time Germany hosted the worlds was in 2010, when a then-record crowd of 77,803 packed Schalke's football stadium in Gelsenkirchen for the opening match. Felix Schütz scored 21 seconds into overtime to give Germany a 2-1 win over the United States, setting the foundation for a strong tournament for the home side.

Coached by former NHL star Uwe Krupp, Germany faced Switzerland in the quarterfinals. Philipp Gogulla scored in the second period to give the Germans the only goal they would need to advance to the semis. After the game, goalie Dennis Endras skated around the ice carrying a huge German flag. In the semis, Germany lost a hard-fought contest 2-1 to Russia and finished fourth in the tournament.

After the downturn in the national team's fortunes in the ensuing years, another former NHL star, Marco Sturm, was brought in as head coach. Under Sturm, Germany had a good opening round at last year's worlds, but in the quarterfinals, they ran into the hosts, the Russians again. New York Islanders goalie Thomas Greiss made 33 saves but but could not stop the Russians from winning 4-1 to advance.

From the moment he took over in July 2015, Germany head coach and general manager Marco Sturm has been working towards this year's world championship, which is being hosted by Cologne and Paris from May 5 to May 21. Hopes for this home tournament are high among German hockey fans, but can Sturm and his players catch lightning in a bottle for these two weeks?