The greatly improved German selection narrowly lost to the Czech Republic 1:2 / against Sweden next week
The German national ice hockey team also lost the second comparison with the Czech Republic as part of the Euro Hockey Challenge. In front of 4.124 spectators in the “Zlatopramen Arena” in Usti nad Labem, national coach Marco Sturm's team narrowly lost 1:2 (0:0, 1:1, 0:1) despite an improvement in performance compared to the first game. At least striker Marcel Brandt from the Düsseldorfer EG was able to celebrate his first goal in only his second international match.
The national team had a hard time getting into the game against the strong Czechs at the beginning and were unlucky right from the start when striker Simon Danner had to go to the penalty box for four minutes for a high stick. However, in the subsequent shorthanded situation, as well as later in the first period with one less player on the ice, the German selection remained unscathed. The best chance for the visitors in the first period belonged to Jerome Flaake, who missed a promising slap shot.
The second third started perfectly for the national team: After an exemplary combination via Daniel Pietta and Sinan Akdag, Marcel Brandt gave the German team the lead with a shot into the corner. Only 55 seconds had been played at this point. The striker Düsseldorfer EG scored his first international goal in his second appearance for Germany.
But the home team was able to respond. Shortly after a penalty against Niki Goc expired, Martin Zatovic equalized for the Czechs. The DEB-Selection was not impressed by this and continued to create good opportunities. The best was missed by Marcel Goc, who shot just past the goal while standing alone.
In the final period, Tomas Kundratek used another power play for the hosts to make it 2-1. The Czech's shot was unfortunately deflected into his own goal by a defender. In the end, Germany tried everything again, with just under 90 seconds to go, national coach Marco Sturm took keeper Timo Pielmeier off the ice, but there was no further goal.
On Saturday, April 16th (15.30:1 p.m., live on SPORT17) and Sunday, April 16.45th (1:XNUMX p.m., live on SPORTXNUMX), the national team will present itself twice in front of its home audience. The opponent is always the top nation Sweden.
National coach Marco Sturm: "This time I am very satisfied with the performance of my team. It has improved enormously. We might have deserved a point. Overall it was a good week. At the beginning there was a bit of a wobble, but then things went better. However, in games like this I don't really look at the results, I am more interested in how the boys are developing on the ice. The quality has improved. That is exactly what we want to do next week at home in front of our own opponents. Fans show against Sweden.”
Marcel Goc (Adler Mannheim/Captain national team): “We improved compared to the first game and did some things much better. Everyone knew we had room for improvement. The training was used accordingly. After the 2:7 we were able to show a reaction this time and that's what we did. The reason for this was, among other things, that we were quicker in our minds and left the opponent less space and space. What was annoying was that the Czechs scored a lucky goal that was deflected in by our defender. There might have been more, but the Czechs were also strong.”
Marcel Brandt (Düsseldorfer EG): “It's obviously annoying that we lost. Nevertheless, our performance is impressive. Of course, being able to score my first goal was like a dream. I hope someone secured the puck for me.”
Germany: Pielmeier (Niederberger); N. Goc, Reul; Ullmann, M. Goc, Höfflin – Akdag, Müller; Krämmer, Schütz, Macek – Ebner, Kohl; Brandt, Pietta, Flaake – Brückner; Buchwieser, Danner, Kink.
Gates: 0:1 Marcel Brandt (20:55), 1:1 Martin Zatovic (30:41), 2:1 Tomas Kundratek (43:36/PP1)
Penalty minutes: Czech Republic 4 – Germany 12 + 10 N. Goc
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