3:4 against Belarus in the penultimate test / dress rehearsal on Tuesday in Switzerland with the World Cup squad
The German national ice hockey team suffered a defeat 24 hours after the 5-3 win against Belarus in the second comparison with “Team Belarus” on Saturday in Oberhausen. National coach Marco Sturm's team lost 2016:3 (4:1, 2:0, 1:2) to their group opponents at the 1 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Russia. The dress rehearsal is now scheduled for next Tuesday, May 3rd (19.45:1 p.m., live on SPORTXNUMX) in Switzerland before heading to St. Petersburg. Then the final World Cup squad will be determined.
Sturm had changed his team as agreed compared to the previous day. Timo Pielmeier was preferred to Felix Brückmann in goal. Constantin Braun, Moritz Müller and Denis Reul played in defense, as did the strikers Philip Gogulla, Brooks Macek, Felix Schütz and Patrick Hager. The DEL champions from Munich, Frank Mauer and Yannic Seidenberg, also celebrated their World Cup preparation debut.
After a little more than five minutes, the Germans were able to Fans cheer for the first time. Brooks Macek held his stick to a pass from Philip Gogulla, making it 1-0 for the home team. However, this lead didn't last long. Alexei Kalyuzhny equalized less than two minutes later. Pielmeier was also powerless when Andrei Stepanov's follow-up shot made it 1-2.
The game remained open in the middle section. Just when the German selection was complete again after a penalty, Stepanov scored his second goal. The home team, cheered on by the audience, then stepped up their game even more, but after 40 minutes the score was 1:3 from the German perspective.
In the final section, the national team tried everything again to turn the result in their favor. With success: Felix Schütz made it 2:3 and gave the hosts hope. This was thwarted by a penalty from Alexander Pavlovich to make it 2:4. Despite Jerome Flaake's goal almost three minutes before the end of the game, it wasn't to be and the German team suffered a 3-4 defeat against Belarus in the last preparatory game on German soil.
National coach Marco Sturm: “I saw two good games from my team, unfortunately we missed out on getting a win in the second match, even though we got off to a good start. However, the Belarusians were a little more lively than us. Nevertheless, my team gave everything for 60 minutes. We might have been able to equalize in the power plays at the end. Maybe we could have used that better. We will have the squad together next week. I’m now looking forward to my first World Cup.”
Philip Gogulla (Kölner Haie): "We lost our way a bit after the 1-0 and didn't shoot enough at the goal afterwards. The Belarusians were more aggressive today. After the 1-3 we played well again and put pressure on. We have to learn to handle such situations better. Such things happen at the World Cup too and we have to have solutions ready."
Felix Schütz (Rögle BK): “It's always difficult to play two games against the same opponent. The Belarusians were a bit better and smarter today. I expected something like that after yesterday's game. Now we have to look ahead and keep an eye on the dress rehearsal.”
Germany: Pielmeier (Niederberger) - Müller, Ankert; Gogulla, Schütz, Macek – N. Goc, Reul; Noebels, Hager, Mauer – Brandt, Braun; Seidenberg, Kahun, Flaake – Brückner, Kohl; Krämmer, Fauser, Ullmann.
Gates: 1:0 Brooks Macek (5:09), 1:1 Alexei Kalyuzhny (6:52), 1:2 Andrei Stepanov (13:20), 1:3 Andrei Stepanov (30:58), 2:3 Felix Schütz ( 45:13), 2:4 Alexander Pavlovich (50:58/SH1/PS), 3:4 Jerome Flaake (56:19/PP)
Penalty minutes: Germany 2 + 10 for Flaake; Belarus 4 +10 + 25
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