Breathe a sigh of relief. The German national inline team secured relegation with an 8-5 (2-1, 4-2, 0-0, 2-2) win against Croatia at the 2017 IIHF Inline World Championship in Bratislava (Slovakia).
After the two defeats in the placement games against the USA (1:4 (0-0, 0-1, 0-1, 1-2)) and Canada (3:8 (1-0, 3-1, 2-2, 2-0)), the German inline national team's decisive final against Croatia on Sunday was not only about seventh place, but also about remaining in the top division. It was to be the decisive "all or nothing" game, as captain Tölzer predicted beforehand.
In a close game, the Germans were behind early on, but were able to take a 2-1 lead before the first break thanks to a double strike from Preibisch and Jeske. After Croatia equalized in the meantime, they moved DEB-Selection won 6:2 in the second quarter thanks to goals from Tölzer, Brazda, Ktizizok and Lachner and created an important buffer. Because Croatia tried everything until the end. First they got to 6:3, then they increased to 6:4 before Deubler made it 7:4. There were just a few minutes left to play, Croatia made it 7:5 and put everything into the balance. Goalkeeper out, additional field player in. But the Germans were in a good position and Jirik's empty net goal ultimately made it 8:5 and ensured that they stayed in the top division.
You can find detailed statistics and the final table here