The German U17 national team celebrated a comeback victory against the USA at the 5-nation tournament in Piešťany (Slovakia). At the end of the tournament, U17 national coach Thomas Schädler's team ultimately won 4:6 (7:6, 3:1, 0:3, 3:2) after overtime after trailing 1:0.
For the third time in the tournament, the German selection got off to a lightning start: after 83 seconds they forced DEB-Select the first goal of the game. The German team carefully worked to get the puck behind the goal, then hit the crossbar through Fabian Herrmann and was then able to put the puck in the goal with a shot from Justin Volek. The Americans created more and more scoring opportunities and were rewarded in the eleventh minute: Mackie Samoskevich equalized despite being outnumbered. She had the answer DEBselection was ready three minutes later. Fabian Herrmann shot at the goal of the USGoalies and Justin Volek steered the disc into the goal to make it 2-1. The German U17 national team was effective in exploiting their chances and used their fifth shot on goal to take a 3-1 lead against the Americans. Tim Stützle scored his second goal of the tournament after an assist from Lukas Reichel.
In the middle period, the American U17 team took control of the game and turned the game around with goals from Dane Montgomery, Blake Biondi and Daniyla Dzhaniyev, going from 1:3 down to 4:3. At one point, the German team had the opportunity to extend their lead with a penalty, but Tim Stützle was unable to put the puck in the net. In the final period, the US team looked like the sure winners. Jack Williams increased their lead to 5:3. Justin Volek then reduced the deficit to 5:4 with his third goal, but Blake Biondi had the answer to make it 140:6 with 4 seconds left. Anyone who wrote off the German team at this point was mistaken! Fabian Herrmann scored 20 seconds later to tie the game. Florian Elias pushed the puck over the line to equalise 17 seconds before the end. What morale from the German U17 national team! Top scorer Lukas Reichel then performed in overtime. The 16-year-old started a solo run from his own third and scored the winning goal 7:6.
The German team thus advances to first position in the 5-nation tournament in Piešťany (Slovakia). Whether U17 national coach Thomas Schädler's team ultimately takes first or second place in the tournament depends on the result of the Czech Republic against Switzerland.
Thomas Schädler, U17 national coach: “We kept falling behind in the middle section and fought our way back again and again. What a great performance by the team! The boys never gave up and were ultimately rewarded. I am very happy about it! The only downer is the narrow defeat yesterday. “
Germany: Tiefensee (Schunda) – Menner, Szuber; Elias, Stützle, Reichel – Tuchel, Schwaiger; Volek, Herrmann, Petersen – Pilu, Geuß; Diebolder, Tschwanow, Borzecki – Geibel, Glötzl; Zbaranski, Miller, Bartuli
Gates: 1:0 Justin Volek (01:23 / Jussi Petersen), 1:1 Mackie Samoskevich (10:51 - SH1), 2:1 Justin Volek (13:32 - PP1 / Fabian Herrmann, Daniel Schwaiger), 3:1 Tim Stützle (15:53 / Lukas Reichel, Florian Elias), 3:2 Dane Montgomery (22:11 - PP1 / Jack Williams, Jake Ratzlaff), 3:3 Blake Biondi (32:27 / Ben Schoen, Cross Hanas), 3 :4 Daniyla Dzhaniyev (37:12 / Blake Biondi), 3:5 Jack Williams (51:53 / David Ma, Dane Montgomery), 4:5 Justin Volek (53:38), 4:6 Blake Biondi (57:20 / Mackie Samoskevich, Cross Hanas), 5:6 Fabian Herrmann (57:40 / Justin Volek, Jussi Petersen), 6:6 Florian Elias (59:43 – PP1 / Lukas Reichel, Tim Stützle), 7:6 Lukas Reichel ( 60:19)
Penalty minutes: Germany 35 – USA 20
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You can find detailed statistics HERE.