German U16 women's national team with a 6:0 (3:0/3:0) win against Norway and 0:2 (0:2/0:0) defeat against Russia
The German selection started their third game of the tournament against Norway with great enthusiasm. Lilli Welcke hit the post and the crossbar in the first exchange. The German players didn't notice the two strenuous games of the previous day. They ran attack after attack towards the Norwegian goal. Lilly Uhrmann in the German goal easily defused the Norwegians' first dangerous attack in the fifth minute of the game. The first German power play gave coach Florian Neumayer's team a 1-0 lead in the eighth minute of the game. Heidi Strompf shot from the blue line at a Norwegian in front of the goal, who deflected the disc into her own goal. A minute later the German team had to survive their first outnumbered game. She played with a lot of calm and overview and didn't let her opponents get into her line-up. The DEB-Selection showed some nice combinations in a subsequent outnumbered situation, but was unable to capitalize on them. In the 15th minute, Leonie Willeitner took the target from the Norwegian defenders on the opposing blue line, shot from the slot and hit the inside post, from where the puck bounced into the goal to make it 2-0 for Germany. Just two and a half minutes later, Lilli Welcke served her twin sister Luisa, who, standing completely free, had no trouble making it 3-0. A minute and a half before the break, Thea-Marleen Bartell hit the crossbar with a courageous shot. 34 seconds before the break, a German player had to go to the penalty box. Norway had two more shots on goal before the half-time siren, but Uhrmann was on the post and so the German team went into the dressing room with a 3-0 lead.
In the remaining time of their outnumbered game, the German U16 girls acted very concentrated and came up with good offensive actions. Even after the penalty had expired, they continued to show good combinations. In the 27th minute of the game there was a repeat of the third German goal. Lilli Welcke fed Luisa Welcke, who gave the Norwegian goalkeeper no chance to defend and increased the score to 4-0. As a result, both the German team and the Norwegians had chances to score – both of them Goalies but were there. After 32 minutes, Ronja Hark increased the score to 5-0 for the German team. Pauline Gruchot lifted the disc from the outside over two opposing sticks directly onto Hark's blade, which shot into the goal. Three minutes later it was Hark again who scored on a pass from Gruchot in the power play to make it 6-0. It was earned in the last five minutes DEB-Selection still had more chances, but a goal wouldn't come until the final whistle and so the first game of the day ended 6-0 for Germany.
Germany: Uhrmann (Disl) – Strompf, king; Lilli Welcke (A), Luisa Welcke, Liang – Raschke (C), Mayer; Bartell, Leveringhaus, Sterzik – Heinz, Kohberg; Miller, Gruchot (A), Hark – Topfmeier, Cyrulies; Willeitner, Maßner, Wallner
Gates: 1:0 Heidi Strompf (07:23/PP1); 2:0 Leonie Willeitner (14:05), 3:0 Luisa Welcke (16:48), 4:0 Luisa Welcke (26:04), 5:0 Ronja Hark (31:42), 6:0 Ronja Hark ( 34:39/PP1)
Penalty minutes: Germany 4 – Norway 6
You can find all the statistics for the game HERE.
It was only 26 seconds into the final preliminary round game against Russia when Lola Liang already had the lead. After a pass from Luisa Welcke, Liang was narrowly missed by the Russia goalkeeper. Shaken awake by this great German chance, the Russians increased the tempo and scored the 1-0 lead for Russia in the third minute of the game. The German team had a good opportunity to equalize through Alina Leveringhaus, but Thea-Marleen Bartell narrowly missed the follow-up shot. Russia continued to dominate the game and increased the lead to 2-0 in the eighth minute. Sofie Disl in goal for the German team was able to distinguish herself several times in the following minutes and was a reliable support for those in front of her. The German team gained more share of the game as the season progressed, but dangerous scoring opportunities remained rare. Two and a half minutes before the break, a German player had to take a seat in the penalty box. However, Russia rarely got into their formation; the German team always managed to break free. The German team survived the outnumbered situation and went into the break 0-2 behind.
They also got caught in the second section DEB-Selection got off to a good start and had a chance in the first change. A German power play in the 22nd minute resulted in good scoring opportunities, but they could not be used. The German team now played along, but were ultimately defeated by the Russian goalkeeper. In their own third, Florian Neumayer's protégés largely kept their opponents away from their own goal. Anything that still got on goal became Disl's prey. Luisa Welcke had the goal four minutes before the end, but she shot it directly into the Russian goalkeeper's head, completely free of charge Fanghand. Russia increased the pressure again in the final phase, so that the German team had no opportunity to take the goalkeeper off the ice in favor of a sixth skater. Germany narrowly lost the game 0-2.
Germany: Disl (clock man) – Strompf, king; Lilli Welcke (A), Luisa Welcke, Liang – Raschke (C), Mayer; Bartell, Leveringhaus, Sterzik – Heinz, Kohberg; Miller, Gruchot (A), Hark – Topfmeier, Cyrulies; Willeitner, Maßner, Wallner
Gates: 0:1 Kristina Glukhareva (02:48), 0:2 Kristi Shashkina (07:48)
Penalty minutes: Germany 2 – Russia 4
You can find all the statistics for the game HERE.
Florian Neumayer, coach of the U16 women's national team: “We put in a very appealing performance for over forty minutes. At the beginning of the first twenty minutes we weren't close enough to our opponents and so lost duels unnecessarily. Both Russian goals resulted from these duel losses. With more consistency in finishing the goal, the connection and equalization would have been possible. Now we have to wait for the two evening games to find out what happens tomorrow. No matter which opponent is waiting there, it will be another game that will demand everything from us.”
The German team now has to wait for the results of the evening game in Group A. If Norway wins against Switzerland in regular time, the German team will be second in Group A. In this case, they would play for places 1-4 and compete against the first-placed Czechs from Group B in tomorrow's intermediate round at 19:30 p.m. If Switzerland wins against Norway, they will play DEB-Selection as third in Group A for places 5-8 and tomorrow at 13:00 p.m. they will face either Austria or Hungary, who will play the fourth-placed team in Group B in the last game of the evening. All information about the tournament can be found here HERE.