Germany misses out on promotion / Künast: “This division doesn’t forgive a bad day”
It wasn't meant to be: The U20 national team lost to Latvia 2018-20 (0-1; 0-0; 0-1) in the last game of the 0 IIHF U0 Ice Hockey World Championship Div.I in Courchevel (France) and thus missed out Chance of promotion to the top division is slim.
Both teams went into the game with the assumption that they had to score points if they wanted to maintain their chance of promotion. Latvia previously had nine points, Germany, level on points with first-place Kazakhstan, had ten. With their own victory, both teams had to hope that Kazakhstan would leave at least one point behind in the evening game against France.
In a cautious first third, the two teams neutralized each other. Careless mistakes by the German U20 gave the Latvians some good chances, especially when they had the advantage, but the score remained 0-0 for the time being.
After the first break, the opponents were able to take the lead. Renars Kastenbergs scored in the majority to make it 0-1 from a German perspective. The DEB-Selection didn't get proper access to the game, wasn't consistent enough in the build-up and power play, while Mirko Pantkowski used his colors well Parasaved from a higher backlog.
In the final period, the team led by U20 national coach Christian Künast threw everything into the mix. But it was not meant to be. Despite having a sixth field player and good opportunities, the puck could not find a way past the Latvian goalkeeper that afternoon and Germany had to admit defeat with a score of 0:1.
Christian Künast, U20 national coach: "We didn't get into the game in the first third and didn't find a way to implement our game plan. Even after that, our game system wasn't sufficient to implement our abilities. It wasn't until the third third that we were able to make an impact, create chances and look for the finish. The team fought in the third third and tried to achieve a positive result, and I can only express my greatest respect to them for that. Once again, we saw that this division doesn't forgive a bad day and that the most consistent team is promoted in the end."
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