Draisaitl's brace and Noebels' goal are not enough in the 3:4 after extra time / Wednesday departure to St. Petersburg
No luck at the World Cup dress rehearsal: The German national ice hockey team lost the last game before the start of the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship (May 6th - 22nd) in St. Petersburg/Russia. National coach Marco Sturm's team lost to Switzerland 4.562:3 (4:2, 0:1, 2:0, 1:0) after extra time in front of 1 spectators in Basel on Tuesday evening. The difference: While the Swiss were able to take advantage of two of their three power play situations, the national team came away empty-handed in the power play this time.
The guests, who were able to play for the first time with Christian Ehrhoff from the Chicago Blackhawks, started the game cheekily and snappy. Right from the start, the national team created some good opportunities in the power play, but the Swiss held on. Not so with Leon Draisaitl's first goal during preparation. After a fine pass via Patrick Reimer and Moritz Müller, the youngster sank the ball under the crossbar. Things were to get even better: Marcel Noebels made it 2-0 from a German perspective. Reimer had previously hit the crossbar.
The start for the German selection could hardly have started better in the second half. Draisaitl's second goal made it 3-0. The Edmonton Oilers attacker was successful with a dusting. Torsten Ankert provided the assist. Germany remained in control afterwards. Switzerland keeper Reto Berra prevented a bigger deficit. The home team thanked their goalkeeper with two power play goals shortly before the end of the period, so that after 40 minutes it was only 3:2 from the guests' perspective.
In the final section, the Swiss managed to equalize 3-3 with a dry low shot. From then on, Marco Sturm's team tried to get more system into their game again. Which worked at first. Ehrhoff narrowly failed, as did Felix Schütz and Philip Gogulla later. However, no further goals were to be scored. So the game went into overtime. Dennis Hollenstein made the decision with a penalty shot.
After a short night, the team sets off from Zurich towards St. Petersburg early on Wednesday morning. Then defender Korbinian Holzer will also join the team.
National coach Marco Sturm: “It was an annoying defeat today because we actually played very well until the end of the second third. Unfortunately, we allowed the opponent to get back into the game with unnecessary penalty times. In the last third it was back and forth. For us the result was a bit disappointing because we really did a lot of things well. We have to find a way to show our performance over 60 minutes.”
Christian Ehrhoff (Chicago Blackhawks): "We started well and didn't let the Swiss get into the game. That looked pretty good. Afterwards, the opponent came out of the dressing room better and it looked as if we were lacking a little energy. I myself obviously still have room for improvement and felt a little tired after the travel exertions of the last few days. But now we still have a little time until the first game against France. Everything should be fine until then. I think we have a good team. I'm really looking forward to it finally getting started."
Patrick Reimer (Thomas Sabo Ice Tigers): “We got off to a very good start, Switzerland had little time and space. The difference today was simply that they could use the power play and we couldn't. It is precisely these kinds of things that are quickly punished internationally. We have to work on that.”
Germany: Pielmeier (Brückmann); Akdag, Ehrhoff; Mo. Müller, Ankert; Reul, Boyle; Braun – Noebels, M. Goc, Flaake; Rieder, Draisaitl, Reimer; Macek, Schütz, Gogulla; Kink, Hager, Seidenberg.
Goals: 0:1 Leon Draisaitl (11:21), 0:2 Marcel Noebels (17:48), 0:3 Leon Draisaitl (21:23), 1:3 Felicien DuBois (33:35/PP1), 2: 3 Lino Martschini (39:18/PP1), 3:3 Lino Martschini (43:29), Dennis Hollenstein (63:31/PS)
Penalty minutes: Switzerland 6 – Germany 8
Audience: 4.562