Rieder and Schütz scored / No time to take a breather
The German national team lost its first game at the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in St. Petersburg, Russia. The team of national coach Marco Sturm lost to France in their opening game on Saturday 2:3 (0:1, 2:1, 0:0; 0:0; 0:1) after a penalty shootout. It will continue tomorrow, Sunday: Then the opponent will be Finland (15.15:1 p.m., live on SPORTXNUMX).
The German selection took command right from the start, but had to accept the first blow in the neck after around three and a half minutes. The French took their first chance to score to take the lead. Damien Raux gave keeper Timo Pielmeier no chance after a three-on-one counterattack. Germany struggled to stick to the system, but rarely had good opportunities.
The fourth penalty against France should then lead to success. Just 26 seconds after the restart, NHL star Tobias Rieder used the power play to equalize 1-1. Felix Schütz and Philip Gogulla provided the assists. As a result, the game remained tough. However, that was to change after Schütz's opening goal to make it 2-1: Tobias Rieder narrowly missed the best opportunity up to that point. France had better luck and equalized 2-2 with a deflected shot.
The final period continued with this result. Patrick Reimer had a great chance to make it 3-2, but the ball went just over the crossbar. Both teams created good chances, but were unable to get past two goalkeepers in good form in regular time. After a goalless extra period, the match had to be decided in a penalty shootout. Damien Fleury scored the final goal to make it 2-3 in France's favor.
The German selection doesn't have time to breathe. It continues again tomorrow at 15.15:15 p.m. (from 1 p.m., live on SPORT6). This time the opponent is Finland. The “Team Suomi” left nothing to be desired in the first comparison with Belarus and ultimately won easily with 2:XNUMX.
National coach Marco Sturm: "We are of course a little disappointed about the defeat. We were a little nervous at the beginning and the game began disjointedly. Despite this, we had many good chances throughout the game. Overall, my team did a lot of things right and worked well. Unfortunately, we were lacking in the final stages. The point could still be very important. We have to show that we are ready again tomorrow against Finland."
Felix Schütz (Rögle BK/Sweden): "Perhaps we underestimated the French a little at the beginning. We had a very difficult time. We saw that there are no easy feats at a World Cup. I think we could have got the extra point too. No team would have deserved all three points."
Germany: Pielmeier (Brückmann) – Ehrhoff, Holzer; Rieder, Draisaitl, Reimer; Reul, Müller; Macek, Schütz, Gogulla; Boyle, Akdag; Flaake, Goc, Noebels; Brown; Seidenberg, Hager, Kink.
Gates: 0:1 Damien Raux (3:38), 1:1 Tobias Rieder (20:26/PP1), 2:1 Felix Schütz (36:50), 2:2 Valentin Claireaux, 2:3 Damien Fleury (65:00 /PS)
Penalty minutes: France 14 – Germany 8