Künast: “Passion, pride and will” / Tobias Eder with three points
The U20 national team won the third game of the 2017 IIHF U20 Ice Hockey World Championship Div.I in Bremerhaven with 4:3 (2:2; 0:0; 1:1; 0:0; 1:0) after a penalty shootout against favorite Belarus.
Both teams put up a tough fight from the start. After an unsuccessful powerplay by the German selection, the Belarusians took advantage of their carelessness DEB-Selection and went ahead with one point. But the Germans survived a subsequent double outnumbering and equalized shortly afterwards through Jakob Mayenschein, who was perfectly served by Tobias Eder. A few minutes later it was Eder again who put the disc on Lucas Dumont. Dumont let two Belarusians get out before he slammed the window under the Eastern Europeans' crossbar. But the interim leadership only lasted a short time. This time the Belarusians used their double majority and made it 2-2 before the first break.
After an eventful but goalless middle period, Belarusian Ruslan Vasilchuk gave Mirko Pantkowski no chance in the German goal after a perfect cross pass and took the temporary lead. But the atmospheric 1.792 Fans saw a working and passionately fighting German selection that didn't give up. Tobias Eder rounded off his points tally this evening with a well-aimed shot into the top corner to equalize 3-3.
Although the team led by BundesYoung talent coach started extra time with one man less, they withstood the onslaught from Belarus. In the penalty shootout, both Jakob Mayenschein and Valentin Kopp scored while Pantkowski was able to keep his box clean.
Christian Kunast: “We are of course very happy about the victory. The boys worked well today and it was important for them to see that they can play at this level. Not only did they fight brilliantly, but above all they also showed passion, pride and will.”
Jakob Mayenschein: “We showed a good team performance today. We continue to look from game to game because everything is still open.”
You can find detailed statistics here