Women defeat Russia / Delarbre shoots Germany into the semi-finals
Greatest success to date for the German women's national team: In the 500th international match for the women's national team, Benjamin Hinterstocker's team defeated Russia 2017-2 (1-1/0-0) at the 1 IIHF Women's Ice Hockey World Championship in Plymouth (USA). /0:1) and thus moves into the semi-finals for the first time. That's where it hits DEB-Selection on Thursday on host USA.
At the 2017 IIHF Women's Ice Hockey World Championship in Plymouth, USA, the team from the Deutscher Eishockey-Bund met (DEB) face Russia in the second quarterfinal on Tuesday evening. Finland had previously defeated neighbors Sweden 4-0 in the afternoon and thus moved into the semi-finals.
Germany's opponent Russia took fourth place in the preliminary round of the stronger Group A with three points and 2:16 goals. Germany had been first in Group B since the second preliminary round game. It was the 500th international match for the German women's national ice hockey team since their first appearance on December 3.12.1988, XNUMX.
Women's national coach Benjamin Hinterstocker was able to use the entire squad for the first time at this World Cup after defender Tanja Eisenschmid also received the green light from the medical department after recovering from a cold.
The start didn't go as planned DEB-Selection. Not even three minutes had been played when the Russians took advantage of a 2-1 situation and overcame Jennifer Harß in the German goal. Despite Russia appearing to have a slight predominance, the German women also created opportunities for themselves. The goal scoring statistics were 6:9 after the first twenty minutes and the Eastern Europeans went into the first break with a narrow 0:1 lead.
In the second third, Tanja Eisenschmid, who worked her way from her own zone to the Russian goal, missed just a few centimeters from the line. A little later the time had come: With double the advantage, team captain Julia Zorn set up her winger Kerstin Spielberger, who gave the Russian goalkeeper Alexandrova Nadezhda no chance and scored the deserved 1-1 equalizer (35th). Andrea Lanzl and Laura Kluge, who continued to play in the majority, narrowly missed Germany's opening goal and the draw went into the locker room for the last time.
There were anxious minutes to endure when a German player had to go to the penalty box at the start of the final third, but Jenny Harß showed all her skills and saved her team from falling behind. Then came the 50th minute of the game: Rebecca Graeves' hard shot from the blue line was deflected unstoppably by Marie Delarbre into the Russian goal for a 2-1 lead. The last few minutes were unbeatable in terms of tension, Russia pushed for the equalizer, but the German women knew how to keep the puck out of the danger zone. She was extremely lucky DEB-Selection when the post became the German team's best friend 59 seconds before the final siren. But even the removal of the goalkeeper didn't help the Russians and the German players then celebrated loudly.
Women's national coach Benjamin Hinterstocker: “Our team played very disciplined for over sixty minutes, which is also reflected in the result against a strong Russian team. We have developed from game to game and I hope we can continue this success”
Marie Delarbre, scorer of the winning goal: “I’m really happy for the team. “Thursday’s game against the USA will be hard work, but like in every game so far, we will give it our all.”
Andrea Lanzl: “Our goal was of course to reach the semi-finals and we had the absolute will to win the game today. Our goals came at the right time. Now I’m incredibly happy and proud of the team.”
Manuela Anwander: "We went into the game positively from the start, everyone fought for each other. This is a huge success not only for the national team but for all of German women's ice hockey. We are now looking forward to the game against the hosts USA on Thursday."
You can find detailed statistics here: http://www.worldwomen2017.com