National team: After the 2:7 against the Czech Republic / Akdag: “It’s preparation for that”
In the end the result was too high. After the 2-7 defeat against the Czech Republic at the start of the preparation for the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in St. Petersburg, the national team camp hastened not to overestimate the bare result and to quickly focus on the future again. Finally, the German selection will face the same opponent again tomorrow, Friday.
Of course, an analysis was necessary. Conclusion from national coach Marco Sturm: “The game was close and good from our side for 30 minutes. When it comes to fight and passion, I can't blame the boys, but it wasn't enough for 60 minutes.” He hit the nail on the head. His team had done a lot of things right in the first 30 minutes, barely allowing their opponents to develop and even creating the best chances themselves. Felix Schütz even countered the 0-1 setback with the deserved 1-1 in the second third.
The same Schütz as well as Simon Danner and Brooks Macek had previously had three top-class shots on their bat within 90 seconds, but none of them could be used. The big difference to the Czechs, who took advantage of the opportunities offered and were able to pull away to 3-1. After Simon Danner's 3:2 there wasn't much left. Also a question of strength. While the Czechs have been training in the same formation for ten days, the national team has only had three sessions.
“The defeat is okay, even if it was too big. In some cases we created some good opportunities, but unfortunately we weren't able to take advantage of them. On the other hand, there were too many mistakes today that shouldn't happen to us. We gave up the goals too easily,” said captain Marcel Goc, who formed a forward line together with Christoph Ullmann and Mirko Höfflin. Goc: “We have to do better on Friday.”
Defender Sinan Akdag summed up: "A few approaches were good, but unfortunately we made too many mistakes. We have to stop them on Friday, but also in the upcoming games. That's what preparation is for." Mathias Niederberger, who conceded seven goals on his international debut, noticed this too. Sturm stood behind the keeper, who was not to blame for any of the goals: "Mathias kept us in the game for a long time. That was a solid performance."
The DEL keeper of the year himself said: “You could already tell that not everything was right for us. But that's normal, as most of them haven't been on the ice with the team for weeks. I also noticed that the timing was sometimes missing. Maybe under normal circumstances I would have parried one or two shots better.”
The second debutant, Marcel Brandt, also put in a very good performance. In conjunction with Daniel Pietta and Jerome Flaake, the Düsseldorf player provided some very pleasing offensive moves. "It was a fast and hard game. Nevertheless: our line alone should have scored three or four goals." But the opponent managed that. Brandt: "Afterwards they were more determined, you have to say that."