Promotion is within reach: The U18 national team also wins the fourth game of the 2016 IIHF U18 Ice Hockey World Championship in Minsk/Belarus with 5:3 (1:0; 2:2; 2:1) against France and can therefore do so with a win In the game on Friday (April 15.04.2016th, 18.00 / XNUMX:XNUMX p.m.) against hosts Belarus, we will be able to secure direct promotion back to the top division.
The DEB-Selection was able to take the lead after a good five minutes of play in the first third thanks to a shot from Maximilan Adam from the blue line. But the French withstood the pressure of the German team and equalized after the first break (20:58) and four minutes later even used a power play to take the lead. The German team's one-two punch from Tobias Eder (34:12) and Maximilian Adam (35:08) made it clear DEB-Selection before the second break, breathe a sigh of relief again.
With a 3-2 score from the German perspective, the final section was, as expected, exciting. First, the French took advantage of a carelessness on the part of the German team to equalize 3:3 (49:26), but Niklas Postel coldly sank France's failed build-up just twenty seconds later to make it 4:3 from Germany's perspective. When the Germans served a penalty just under three minutes before the end of regular time, France took the goalkeeper off the ice in favor of a sixth field player, but could not necessarily get the puck in front of Jonas Steinmann's goal. Christoph Liefersauer sealed the final score of 5:3 with his empty-net goal 30 seconds before the end.
This means that the German team has the opportunity to win direct promotion back to the top division against Belarus on Friday (April 15.04.2016, 18.00 / XNUMX:XNUMX p.m.).
You can find a live stream of the game here
Coach Thomas Schädler: “After a good start, we lost the thread for a moment and fell behind. As in the previous games, we were able to win the game thanks to our strong will and a solid team performance. Now we are looking forward to the final against Belarus. The frenetic spectators will whip their team forward, but we have nothing to lose, as the pressure and the expectation of having to advance are on the Belarusian side."
DEB-President Franz Reindl praised the team after reaching the final: "A very good team performance secured our place in the final in a close game. This means we will play against the home team Belarus for promotion. I am proud of the boys."
Christian Künast, Federal Young Talent Trainer: “The boys deserved to win today with a good fighting performance against robust and sometimes tough Frenchmen!”
You can find detailed statistics about the game against France here