Keeper Philipp Grubauer again with a shutout in the 6-0 win over Austria / concentration on next Sunday
The German national ice hockey team secured its second victory in the second game at the Olympic qualification in Riga, Latvia. Just 24 hours after the 5-0 opening win against Japan, national coach Marco Sturm's team beat Austria 6-0 (1-0, 2-0, 3-0) in the Arena Riga on Friday and can now win prepare calmly for the decisive game against hosts Latvia next Sunday (17 p.m., live on SPORT1).
Sturm left his squad unchanged from Thursday's 5-0 win over Japan. This time, however, the German selection was challenged right from the start. Austria started the game bravely despite losing 1-8 the night before against Latvia. But Philipp Grubauer was safe. Marcel Goc used a perfect pass from Marcus Kink through the slot to make it 1-0 (15th). Felix Schütz, Gerrit Fauser and David Wolf could have raised with a pawn trick.
In the middle section, Grubauer initially found himself busier than he would have liked. The Washington Capitals keeper was able to excel several times, especially when he was outnumbered. Patrick Hager's remarkable 2-0 win after a wonderful pass from Felix Schütz came at the right time (28th). When Moritz Müller, who had also moved up, was able to score a Goc shot to make it 3-0, that was essentially the preliminary decision in favor of the German selection.
This time the final round belonged to the national team. Patrick Reimer's shot into the corner after just under two and a half minutes made it 4-0 (43'). With that, the fair was read for Austria. Felix Schütz later increased the score to 5-0 (55th), Leon Draisaitl put the lid on it two minutes before the end. Philipp Grubauer defused a penalty from Thomas Raffl and celebrated his second shutout in a row.
National coach Marco Sturm: "We had a hard time for 40 minutes because Austria played well. Later on we moved the puck well. The result was a bit too high in the end, but overall the game was OK. Philipp Grubauer was very good from the start and he will also play on Sunday. We're expecting a big challenge against the hosts."
Tobias Rieder: “We had a hard time getting into the game in the first ten minutes, but after that we played better and better. In the end it was a decent game overall for us. But we know that we have to go one step further on Sunday against Latvia, especially given the expected crowd.”
Patrick Reimer: “In terms of the pure result, the match was a clear affair for us, but you also have to say that it was closer than the result says. It was a completely different game today and Austria wanted to forget the 1-8 defeat from the previous evening. That's how they came out of the cabin. We had a bit of a hard time at the beginning. Ultimately, we took our chances consistently towards the end of the game and deserved to win.”
Germany: Grubauer (Endras) – Holzer, Ehrhoff; Rieder, Draisaitl, Macek – Müller, Seidenberg – Schütz, Hager, Kühnhackl – Hördler, Akdag; Kink, Goc, Seidenberg – Boyle; Wolf, Kahun, Reimer; Fauser
Goals: 1:0 Marcel Goc (14:22), 2:0 Patrick Hager (27:04), 3:0 Moritz Müller (37:20), 4:0 Patrick Reimer (42:26), 5:0 Felix Schütz (54:24/PP1), 6:0 Leon Draisaitl (58:00/PP1)
Penalty minutes: Germany 8 – Austria 8
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