Jenny Harß best player / Hinterstocker: “We showed a good performance for over 60 minutes”
Successful start: The women's national team wins the opening game of the 2017 IIHF Women's Ice Hockey World Championship in Plymouth (USA) 3:1 (0:0; 1:3; 0:0) against Sweden.
The German women had to fend off attacks from the Swedes right from the start, but goalkeeper Jennifer Harß remained rock solid and saved her team from falling behind early. After a good five minutes of play, the Northern Europeans were lucky when Manuela Anwander deflected a shot from Kerstin Spielberger that just missed the goal. The Swedes had to overcome the most difficult situation in the 13th minute. Within ten seconds, the German women fired five times at the target, but the target wouldn't cross the line. So the second third went scoreless.
Take advantage of the first power play opportunity DEB-Selection. Andrea Lanzl placed a shot from behind the Swedish goal with millimeter precision onto Nicola Eisenschmid's stick, who didn't need to be asked twice and slotted in the 1-0 lead (23rd minute). Just a minute later, Germany had the advantage again and once again the strike team Lanzl - Eisenschmid had a great chance to increase the score to 2-0 after a nice one-two, but they were denied by Sara Grahn in the Swedish goal. As a result, the Swedes increased the pressure and the DEB-Selection had trouble freeing itself again and again. The equalizer was quite unfortunate from the German team's point of view. A shot blocked by Jenny Harß bounced off the stick of one of her own defenders and from there back into the German goal. But the German team didn't let this upset them and continued to withstand the Swedish attack efforts.
National coach Benjamin Hinterstocker's team was lucky when the Swedes hit the post (36th minute), but then they struck DEB-Return selection. First, Manuela Anwander took the 2-1 lead after winning a face-off with a direct shot into the top corner (39'). Just 21 seconds later, the German women intercepted a pass in the Swedish zone and Andrea Lanzl hit the hard rubber disc under the crossbar to make it 3-1.
The Swedes tried to keep up the pressure in the final period, but the German women had solid support in Jennifer Harß, who was voted the best player after the game. Even when the Swedish coach took his goalkeeper off the ice two minutes before the end in favor of a sixth skater, the Germans defended their two-goal lead extremely cleverly and were able to celebrate victory in the opening game of the World Cup.
The next game will take place tomorrow at 18.00 p.m. German time against the Czech Republic.
Women's national coach Benjamin Hinterstocker: “We came here to Plymouth with the clear goal of winning games. We managed to do this today and our entire team showed a very good performance over 60 minutes. Now it’s important to preserve this performance for tomorrow’s game.”
Manuela Anwander: “We have already played against Sweden a few times this season and knew exactly which mistakes we had to avoid in order to finally be able to win against this team at a major tournament.”
You can find detailed statistics here: http://www.worldwomen2017.com