Young German team lost 0-2 to Slovakia on the last day of the tournament / Emotional moments even before the game for the outgoing national coach
Three years and four months after Marco Sturm was hired as national coach, an era in German ice hockey ended on Sunday evening. The 0:2 at the end of the Deutschland Cups in the Krefeld KönigPALAST almost became a minor matter due to the friendly coach. Sturm's tenure included two quarter-final appearances at the 2016 and 2017 World Championships as well as the silver medal at the 2018 Olympic Games - the greatest German ice hockey success of all time. Germany ultimately finished the traditional tournament in the Silk City in fourth place.
Even before the match, things got emotional on the ice: Sturm got out of the hands of DEBPresident Franz Reindl and sports director Stefan Schaidnagel presented farewell gifts. Fans in the KönigPALAST the outgoing national coach celebrated with a standing ovation, the players lined up along the blue line and raised their rackets. The new assistant coach of the LA Kings from the NHL was unusually emotional. Especially when the golden moments of the past few years were shown on the video cube.
The game ended without any major highlights after the first 20 minutes. Keeper Niklas Treutle skillfully defused some of the Slovaks' dangerous situations, while the home team, who had many youngsters, struggled offensively. In addition to Markus Eisenschmid (Adler Mannheim) Munich's Frank Mauer, Danny aus den Birken, Konrad Abeltshauser and Daryl Boyle were also heading in the morning Bayern broken up. Local hero Daniel Pietta was also missing.
In the second half, the hosts gained better control of the game, but were also unable to take advantage of their opportunities. So the last section had to make the decision. There the guests presented themselves as ice-cold: Marcel Hascak and Radovan Pulis scored twice within 24 seconds. All the German selection's efforts in the end didn't help.
After the match, the national players said goodbye in all directions. Sturm himself flies back to the family that evening Bayern. His Los Angeles adventure begins tomorrow when he boards the plane and sets off for California. The first course under his successor will take place in February 2019. “We are under no pressure to find a coach and will decide on this calmly in the coming weeks,” Franz Reindl repeated again on the sidelines of the last day of the tournament.
Germany: Treutle (Niederberger) – Zerressen, Müller; Pfohl, Plachta, Wolf – Reul, Akdag; Loobl, Bergmann, Noebels – Krupp, Ebner; Höfflin, Pföderl, Hungerecker – Sezemsky; Kink, Krämmer, L. Niederberger.
Gates: 0:1 Marcel Hascak (54:37), 0:2 Radovan Pulis (55:01)
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