DEB-Selection maintains its chance of reaching the quarter-finals / Kettner: “Team can achieve great things”
Strong defensive performance is rewarded: The German U18 women's national team wins their last group game at the 2018 IIHF U18 Women's Ice Hockey World Championship in Dmitrov (Russia) with 2:1 (1:1; 1:0; 0:0) against Switzerland.
Both teams already had the lead at the start. On the German side, Luisa Welcke's final pass to Nina Christof missed the stick by just millimeters, while Johanna May parried against a free-standing Swiss player in the German goal on the other side. The German team had several chances in the fourth minute. Naemi Bär didn't have to be asked twice and coldly converted a pass from Lilli Welcke to take the lead 4-1. But the answer from the Swiss women was not long in coming. A two-on-one situation in the 0th minute brought the score to 8:1.
The first chance in the second third belonged to the German team again. But Franziska Klinger's shot from the blue line posed no threat to the Swiss goal. But that happened a few minutes later when Lilli Welcke pushed a pass from her sister Luisa into the goal in the middle section after two minutes had played to make it 2-1. The German team survived a short-handed situation in the 31st minute under great pressure without conceding a goal, thanks to a well-disposed May, and so they went into the break with a narrow lead, despite further good chances of their own.
The beginning of the final period showed a nervous German team that had difficulty controlling the game and so in these minutes Johanna May came back to the foreground of the game. The Swiss continued to increase the pressure and barely allowed the German girls to get out of their third, but they did DEB-The selection was snappy, they blocked shot after shot until the end and were able to secure the deserved victory against the Swiss.
Unfortunately, in the end it wasn't quite enough. The Czech Republic was able to beat Finland in the last group game in the evening and move past Germany in the table. This is what hits the mark DEB-Selection in three possible relegation games (January 10.01th, January 12.01th and January 13.01.2018th, XNUMX) to Switzerland.
Tommy Kettner, national coach U18 women: “The team proved again today that they can achieve great things. Especially when they were outnumbered, all the players worked very courageously, blocked shots and didn't give up a meter of ice. Now we have to wait for the result of the game between Finland and the Czech Republic to know what will happen in the next few days. We need a win for Finland either after regular time or extra time or a penalty shootout in order to advance to the quarter-finals.”
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