National coach Marco Sturm rotates in the second test against Norway / “We want to improve”
Munich, April 08.04.2017, 18.10 – Be better. This is the motto of the German national ice hockey team in the second preparation game as part of the Euro Hockey Challenge this evening (from 1 p.m. on the Internet live stream on SPORT19.15, from around 1 p.m. on free TV) in Norway. After the 5:XNUMX in the first comparison, “we want to improve today,” said national coach Marco Sturm.
As agreed, Sturm will change the squad in some positions and rotate in four players plus a keeper. Accordingly, Timo Pielmeier, Kai Hospelt, Marcus Kink, Thomas Oppenheimer and Christian Ehrhoff will receive a break. Sinan Akdag, Philip Gogulla, David Wolf and Patrick Hager are in the squad. Dennis Endras is between the posts.
The change also means that the four youngsters Pascal Zerressen, Jakob Mayenschein, Frederik Tiffels and Maxi Kammerer will get their second chance to prove themselves. Sturm was satisfied with the quartet's debut on Thursday. "We were a bit nervous at the beginning, but after two or three changes you get used to the pace and know how to behave," said Kammerer.
The players emphasized that the 1:5 has now been checked off. “We conceded a few unfortunate goals and didn’t take advantage of the chances up front,” said captain Ehrhoff. Today things should get better. “We are here to learn the system and find ourselves,” said Patrick Hager, emphasizing that the results in the current phase play less of a role anyway. This applies to both defeats and victories.
With today's game, the national team concludes the first phase of their preparation. On Sunday morning at 5.30:XNUMX a.m. we head towards Oslo Airport. The players only have two nights in their own four walls before they go to a short training camp in Mannheim from Tuesday afternoon. Next Thursday the German entourage will travel to Belarus for two more games.