National coach Sturm: “We failed to follow up” / Swiss experienced / Tomorrow against Slovakia from 17.30 p.m. on SPORT1
Sacrificial fight was not rewarded: The German national ice hockey team started the 2th season with a narrow 3:1 (0:0, 2:1, 1:26) defeat in the tense neighborhood duel against Switzerland. Deutschland Cup.
At the debut of national coach Marco Sturm in the Curt-Frenzel Stadium in Augsburg, the home team started as announced full of energy, but in the end the experienced Swiss prevailed.
"We started very well in the first third, but failed to follow up in the second period. The Swiss took advantage of that," said Marco Sturm immediately after the match.
It was thanks to Switzerland keeper Benjamin Conz that the German selection only achieved success thanks to Philip Gogulla's goal, despite a large number of the best scoring opportunities. The Cologne striker made it 1-0 with a double advantage in the margin shot. Felix Schütz provided the assist. Previously, Yasin Ehliz, David Wolf and Patrick Reimer had cut their teeth on the visiting goalkeeper.
After the change, the Swiss came out of the locker room better and much more disciplined than in the first half. Shortly after the second penalty against the national team expired, Endras was also beaten for the first time: Simon Moser used a follow-up shot to equalize 1-1. Shortly afterwards, Endras' brilliant performance against Lino Martschini prevented us from falling behind. However, the Mannheim goalkeeper was powerless against Greg Hofmann's goalkeeper, and the German keeper even defused a penalty a short time later.
It was urgent in the final section DEB-Team with vehemence for the equalizer. These efforts were rewarded towards the middle of the final third when ex-Augsburg player Daryl Boyle hammered the puck past friend and foe into the Swiss net with a slap shot from half-right. Just a minute later, the national team could have taken the lead even when they were outnumbered after fine preparatory work by Macek, but Patrick Reimer pushed the puck just past the Swiss goal.
Instead, the Swiss quickly turned the duel around with a brilliant slap shot from Lino Martschini. In a more hectic final phase with a number of penalties, the German team created further good opportunities, but the Swiss brought their victory with an overview over time.
This will happen tomorrow DEBteam continues. In their second tournament duel, the Sturm team will face Slovakia (from 17.15:1 p.m. on SPORT0), who lost 1-0 (0-0, 1-0, 0-XNUMX) against Team USA Deutschland Cup had started. Augsburg's local hero Ben Hanowski scored the goal of the day for the US boys.
National coach Marco Sturm: "We started well. The boys were ready, you could tell. In the first third, my team was able to put a lot of pressure on us. We had a lot of power play situations, but unfortunately we were only able to use one of them to our advantage. From the second period onwards, Switzerland got better because we were a little lacking in stamina. As a result, Switzerland forced us to take penalties, which resulted in two goals being scored against us. So the special teams were the difference. In the last third, the 2:2 gave us a boost. The boys tried everything. Overall, I'm happy with the way we played. Switzerland was a little cleverer today."
Dennis Endras (Adler Mannheim): “The special teams were crucial. This is actually mostly the case internationally. Switzerland simply made better use of its power play. We perhaps could have scored one or two more goals at the start. If it had been 2-0 it would have been difficult for the opponent. However, with the equalizer we brought Switzerland back into the game.”
Brooks Macek (Iserlohn Roosters): "On the one hand, it was of course a great experience for me to be able to take part for the first time. On the other hand, I can't really be happy about my debut, after all, we lost. I was a bit nervous at the beginning, but that settled down after two or three games. It was a fast game in which the penalties decided the outcome."
Sinan Akdag (Adler Mannheim): “It was a close game. Little things made the difference. Unfortunately we weren't the happier team today. Nevertheless, you can build on this achievement. We want our first win against Slovakia on Saturday. If we perform at our best over 60 minutes, we have a good chance.”
Germany: Endras (Brückmann) – Mo. Müller, Daschner; Goc, Boyle; Akdag, Anchors; Ebner – Ehliz, Schütz, Reimer; Gogulla, Hager, Macek; Ma. Müller, Pietta, Krämmer; Flaake, Kahun, Wolf.
Goals: 1:0 Philip Gogulla (17:58/PP2), 1:1 Simon Moser (24:52), 1:2 Gregory Hofmann (30:00/PP1), 2:2 Daryl Boyle (48:19), 2:3 Lino Martschini (51:50/PP1)
Audience: 4.258
The official game statistics can be found here: http://stats.iihf.com/deb/28/index.html