Delarbre and Fiegert meet / quarter-final opponent has not yet been decided
In the last preliminary round game of the 2017 IIHF Women's Ice Hockey World Championship in Plymouth (USA), the German women were defeated by Switzerland 2:4 (0:3/0:0/2:1). The conditions could hardly be more different: Germany was already top of the group in the quarter-finals with six points after two wins. The Swiss, on the other hand, only had two points and needed a win against their neighbors to have any chance of finishing second.
Franziska Albl was in the German goal that day, making her first appearance at a World Cup. The DEB-Selection had more of the game at the beginning and Kerstin Spielberger failed after four minutes at the post of the Swiss women playing in red. The tide only changed when a German player had to go to the penalty box for the first time after eight minutes. Five seconds before the end of the penalty time, the hard rubber disk fidgeted in the German goal net, but the referees did not recognize the goal due to video evidence because it was offside the goal area. 30 seconds later the Swiss took the lead. Laura Stalder pushed through the middle and gave Franziska Albl no chance. Just 38 seconds later, the goalscorer passed it across to Alina Müller, who was running along with her, who converted it flat into the far corner to make it 0-2 from a German perspective (12th minute). When there was another penalty against them DEB-Selection, it was Stalder and Müller again who increased the score to 0:3. The Swiss now had the upper hand and the Germans were lucky when the post prevented an even greater deficit one second before the first break.
In the second third, women's national coach Benjamin Hinterstocker had to change something and brought Jennifer Harß into the goal. The German women started this section of the game with two huge chances, but Kerstin Spielberger was denied by the Swiss goalkeeper Florence Schelling, as was Manuela Anwander seconds later (23').
After the last break, the German women continued exactly where they left off in the second third. 23 seconds after the restart, Marie Delarbre took advantage of a nice pass from Sophie scratch and scored the 1:3 goal. The German selection was now on the trigger and when a penalty time was given twice in quick succession, Kerstin Spielberger and Nicola Eisenschmid each narrowly failed. A good six minutes before the end of the game, defender Anna Fiegert, who was subsequently honored as Germany's best player, scored with a great slap shot from the blue line and reduced the score to 2:3. Still outnumbered, first Daria Gleißner and seconds later Julia Zorn missed the equalizer. Meanwhile had DEB-Goalkeeper Jennifer Harß cleared her goal and made room for a sixth field player. But 52 seconds before the end, Alina Müller scored her third goal in the deserted German box, making the final score 2:4 from a German perspective.
Women's national coach Benjamin Hinterstocker: “We started the first third very well today and followed our game plan. Nevertheless, Switzerland managed to score three goals in just under four minutes. In the second and third thirds we found our way back to our disciplined game. At this World Cup we have to concentrate for 60 minutes in every game in order to be successful. Tomorrow we will try to show our maximum performance again in the quarter-finals.”
Striker Marie Delarbre: “In the first third we perhaps made things a little too complicated and weren’t focused enough. But from the second third onwards we showed what we could do as a team and kept the game open until the end.”
The German team will now face the fourth place in preliminary round group A tomorrow, Tuesday. The opponent and start time will only be determined after the last preliminary round game in the other group.
You can find detailed statistics here