The U18 national team won 4-3 against Mora IK (Sweden) in the last game of the DEL Junior Cup in Mannheim and ended up in fifth place.
After a mixed preliminary round in the “Goc” group, in which the team led by U18 national coach Steffen Ziesche won the first game 4:3 after a penalty shootout against HC Energie Karlovy Vary (Czech Republic) thanks to great fighting spirit, and had to admit defeat to Jungadlern Mannheim 1:2 the following day despite a good performance, they finished in third place.
In the quarter-finals, the Germans met Ilves Tampere (Finland), the runner-up in the “Hecht” group, and were beaten 2:4. In the other quarter-final match, the Mannheim team met the Swedes Mora IK. With a clear 5:1 victory, the hosts moved into the semi-finals. It was thus clear that the DEB-Selection would face Mora IK in the game for 5th place.
After an ultimately very even game, the Germans got off to a better start and were ahead 40-4 after just 2 minutes. But the Swedes followed suit and even came within one goal in the final third. But despite a penalty on the part of the DEBselection and a sixth player from Mora IK, the U18 selection secured victory and thus 5th place in the tournament.
Steffen Ziesche was quite satisfied with his team's work but still sees room for improvement: "Overall, we had a mixed tournament here. Unfortunately, not everything went as we had imagined, but we have learned our lessons and now it's time to keep working on ourselves."
In the semifinals, Ilves Tampere (Finland) won against HC Energie Karlovy Vary (Czech Republic) and St. Andrew's College (Canada) won against Jungadler Mannheim. The hosts then defeated the Czechs in the match for third place on Sunday and the Canadians won first place with a narrow victory against the Finns.
You can find detailed statistics here