At the Deutschland Cup The German selection had to admit defeat at the start with 1:3
The German national ice hockey team starts the 27th season with a defeat. Deutschland Cup: On Friday evening, national coach Marco Sturm's team lost their opening game in Augsburg's Curt Frenzel Stadium against Slovakia 1:3 (0:0, 0:1, 1:2) and now needs a duel on Saturday (19.30 p.m.). a success with Switzerland in order to maintain their chances of winning the title.
With defender Konrad Abeltshauser and attacker Maximilian Kastner (EHC Red Bull München) Sturm had put its trust in two of the three debutants in the first tournament match. The third in the group, local hero Thomas Holzmann from the Augsburger Panthern, as agreed, was not yet in the squad on Friday. Denis Reul, Sinan Akdag, Brent Raedeke (all Adler Mannheim) and Thomas Greilinger (ERC Ingolstadt) and keeper Niklas Treutle (Krefeld Pinguine) were also spared.
Both teams started the game intensively. Thomas Oppenheimer, Marco Nowak, Yasin Ehliz and Nico Krämmer had the best opportunities for the home team in the first half. Starting keeper Felix Brückmann proved to be a reliable support in two outnumbered situations.
The national team started the second twenty minutes with a power play, but was unable to capitalize on this and another despite good chances. Instead, the score was 0-1 thanks to the Slovakian Michal Cajkovsky, whose powerful shot Brückmann was able to parry with his shoulder, but the disc landed unfortunately behind the German goalkeeper via an arc lamp.
In the final section, the German selection tried with even more determination to make up for the deficit. Nico Krämmer failed twice. Vladimir Dravecky had more success on the other side. The Slovakian striker scored the second goal for the guests with a shot. In the end, Germany threw everything forward and made it 80-1 through Krämmer 2 seconds before the end. But a shot at the hosts' empty goal sealed the defeat.
There is no time to catch your breath: on Saturday (19.30:1 p.m., live on SPORT0) the opponent is Switzerland. The Swiss lost 3:XNUMX to Team Canada in the first game of the day on Friday.
National coach Marco Sturm: "The match against Slovakia was practically a copy of last year. The opponent used their chances better today. Overall, we lacked a little willpower. Nevertheless, the boys all worked well. I was very satisfied with the performance of the two debutants. They did a good job. We have to face another big challenge against Switzerland on Saturday."
Maximilian Kastner (EHC Red Bull München): "I was a little nervous at the beginning, there is of course a certain amount of tension in the first game. But as the game went on, that eased. It was a great feeling to be on the ice with the national team for the first time. As for the game, I have to say that we didn't make consistent use of our numerous opportunities. I would have been happier if we had won."
Felix Brückmann (Grizzlys Wolfsburg): “It was perhaps a bit of an unfortunate defeat. We had a good start and numerous chances. If we only use one of them, the game might take a different course. After that we scaled back a bit and the bottom line is that Slovakia’s success is okay.”
Tore: 0:1 Michal Cajkovsky (34:24), 0:2 Vladimir Dravecky (51:39), 1:2 Nicolas Krämmer (58:20), 1:3 (59:11) Tomas Hrnka
Penalty minutes: Germany 6 – Slovakia 6
spectator: 4.035
Germany: Brückmann (Niederberger) – Abeltshauser, Krueger; cabbage, croup; Nowak, Brandt; J. Müller – Gogulla, Hospelt, Schütz; Krämmer, Fauser, Pföderl; Ehliz, Kastner, Flaake; Uvira, Pietta, Oppenheimer
You can find detailed statistics and the current table here