MUNICH (AP) — Harold Kreis is leaving as coach of Germany’s ice hockey squad after failing to make the medal rounds at the Olympics and world championship in quick succession led his boss to saying the men’s team had “stagnated”.

The German hockey association said in a statement on Friday that the two parties had “mutually agreed to terminate their collaboration with immediate effect”.

Kreis’ contract had been due to run until Germany hosts the world championship next year.

The Canada-born Kreis has spent decades as a player and coach in Germany and made an impact within weeks of taking over the national squad in 2023, taking his team to the world championship final before losing 5-2 to Canada.

However, Germany lost in this year’s Olympic quarterfinals to Slovakia and failed to make the last eight at the world championship last year and this year.

The association’s sporting director said that parting company with Kreis wasn’t easy, “but at the same time we see that the development of the men’s national team has stagnated recently and this overall sporting assessment led to our decision.”

Kreis called his three years in charge “a special time that I look back on with great gratitude.”

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