The German men's national ice hockey team is the national ice hockey team of Germany and is controlled by the German Ice Hockey Federation. It first participated in serious international competition at the 1911 European Hockey Championship. When Germany was split after World War II, a separate East Germany national ice hockey team existed until 1990. By 1991, the West and East German teams and players were merged into the United German team. The team's head coach is Toni Söderholm. Germany has won several medals at the World Championships, including two silver medals in 1930 and 1953, as well as a silver medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics, the team's biggest success in the 21st century. History West Germany The West German team's greatest success came in 1976 at the Winter Olympics, when the team went 2–3–0 and won the bronze medal. The Swedish and Canadian teams, traditionally two hockey powerhouses, had boycotted the 1976 Games in protest of the amateur rules that allowed Eastern Bloc countries to send their best players while keeping Western nations from doing the same. West Germany's wins in the 1976 Games came against the United States (4–1) and Poland (7–4). In 1980, the team didn't do as well and only won one game in the preliminary round, which kept them from advancing. They finished 10th out of 12. In 1984, the team was invited to the Canada Cup. By 1991, the reunification of East and West Germany meant the inclusion of players from the former East Germany. Post-unification The team is not considered to be as elite as Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, Sweden or the United States, but they are ranked 7th in the world (2019) by the IIHF. Since re-unification, their best recent results include finishing 6th place at the 2003 World Championships where they lost a close quarter-final match in overtime to Canada, and 4th at the 2010 World Championships where they lost to Sweden in the bronze medal game. Previously, they finished third in the European Group and qualified for the quarter-finals at the 1996 World Cup after a surprising 7–1 victory against the Czech Republic. In the 1992 Olympics, they lost to Canada 4–3 in an overtime shoot-out in the quarter-finals. Germany has never won an international competition, and their most recent medal was silver in the 2018 Olympic Winter Games, when they lost to the Olympic Athletes