Drama with a good ending in Cologne: equalizer shortly before the end, no goal in overtime, Tiffels and Grubauer the penalty heroes
The German national ice hockey team has made it into the quarterfinals of the 2017 IIHF home world championship in Cologne. The German selection beat Latvia on Tuesday in the sold-out LANXESS arena after a nerve-wracking game with 4:3 (0:0, 2:1, 1:2, 0:0, 1:0) after a penalty shootout and will now face Canada in the round of the last eight on Thursday.
The home team, with Philipp Grubauer in goal for the first time, started the game energetically and powerfully, but failed to capitalize on the good opportunities in perhaps their best third of the World Cup so far. That changed after the change. With a double strike within just 27 seconds, first David Wolf and then Dennis Seidenberg were there.
Gunars Skvorcov's 1:2 goal made the match exciting again. Janis Sprukts equalized in the final section. Andris Dzerins' 3:2 was answered by Felix Schütz 33 seconds before the end with the much celebrated 3:3 in the power play. There was no goal in overtime. Frederik Tiffels made everything clear with his decisive penalty.
Germany: Grubauer (Aus den Birken) – Reul, Ehrhoff; Reimer, Draisaitl, Ehliz – Müller, D. Seidenberg; Y. Seidenberg, Kahun, Kink – Hördler, Abeltshauser; Hager, Macek, Plachta; Krueger; Schütz, Fauser, Wolf, Tiffels.
Tore: 1:0 David Wolf (31:02), 2:0 Dennis Seidenberg (31:29), 2:1 Gunars Skvorcovs (38:42), 2:2 Janis Sprukts (48:22), 2:3 Andris Dzerins (56:08), 3:3 Felix Schütz (59:27), 4:3 Frederik Tiffels (65:00)
Penalty minutes: Germany 6 – Latvia 8
spectator: 18.797