Only in the final section did Canada make the victory perfect / German selection against Belarus tomorrow
Strong performance not rewarded: The German national team suffered a defeat at the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in St. Petersburg/Russia. The team of national coach Marco Sturm lost 2:5 (0:1, 2:1, 0:3) to the top favorites "Team Canada" on Thursday evening, but showed one of the best performances of the tournament in terms of fighting spirit and play. It was only in the final round that the highly-rated "Maple Leaves" secured the victory. Tomorrow, Friday, they will face Belarus (from 19 p.m., live on SPORT1).
Thomas Greiss, who had finally arrived at the team in the morning after around 20 hours of travel, was immediately called up by Sturm as “back-up”. “He hasn’t played for a few days now, so it’s good that he’s at least getting some contact with the ice again during the warm-up,” the national coach said. Timo Pielmeier stood between the posts.
It was not the clear favorite that dominated the opening phase, but the national team that started boldly and was able to get the first pucks on the opposing goal. However, a wrist shot from Taylor Hall meant the score was 0:1. Germany was not shocked by this and continued to look for opportunities. Patrick Reimer and Christian Ehrhoff, after an exemplary pass from Leon Draisaitl, had the best chances to equalize. The referees disallowed the supposed 1:1 by Gerrit Fauser. The Wolfsburg player had allegedly scored a pass from Tobias Rieder with his skate.
Canada increased their lead to 2-0 in the middle third thanks to a power play goal by Corey Perry. But that did not dampen the courageous performance of the German team. On the contrary: Patrick Reimer first managed to make it 1-2 with a slap shot, and Sinan Akdag's shot landed in the corner shortly before the second break, meaning the score was 40-2 after 2 minutes. Before that, the Canadians had only conceded two goals in three tournament games.
The final section promised excitement. However, Taylor Hall's second goal of the evening gave the world number one the lead again. The 2:4 from a German perspective couldn't have been more unfortunate: a shot from the blue line was deflected twice. Pielmeier had no chance. Coach Sturm's team was denied exactly this luck in the power play. In the end, Cody Ceci scored for the Canadians (53:17/PP1) to make the final score 2:5 from a German perspective.
The national team hardly has any time to take a breather. There will be a duel with Belarus tomorrow, Friday. SPORT1 will broadcast live from 19 p.m.
National coach Marco Sturm: "If you want to beat a team like Canada, everything has to be right for 60 minutes. We played very well for two thirds, I'm proud of the boys' performance. They fought endlessly. Unfortunately, we couldn't respond afterwards. The important thing now is the game against Belarus. That's where the focus lies. The boys have to recover quickly."
Patrick Reimer (Thomas Sabo Ice Tigers Nuremberg): "We didn't just play well for a long time, but also played better at times. Small details decided the game. Now we need to take the many positive things with us to the game against Belarus."
Germany: Pielmeier (Greiss) – Holzer, Ehrhoff; Kink, Goc, Seidenberg – Reul, Müller; Macek, Draisaitl, Noebels - Boyle, Akdag; Reimer, Kahun, Rieder – Anchors; Schütz, Hager, Gogulla; Fauser
Gates: 0:1 Taylor Hall (3:54), 0:2 Corey Perry (23:22/PP1), 1:2 Patrick Reimer (31:31), 2:2 Sinan Akdag (37:36), 2:3 Taylor Hall (43:12), 2:4 Boone Jenner (46:50), 2:5 Cody Ceci (53:17/PP1)
Penalty minutes: Canada 8 – Germany 6
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