At the start of the 2019 IIHF U20 Ice Hockey World Championship, the German U20 national team celebrated an opening victory. U20 national coach Christian Künast's team celebrated a 3:2 (1:1, 1:0, 0:1, 0:0, 1:0) win after a penalty shootout at the Federal Training Center in Füssen.
Before the game, Moritz Seider was named captain of the German team. Leon Gawanke and Tim Brunnhuber took on the role of assistant captain.
The German team started the game with a lot of speed and immediately took control of the game. Justin Schütz failed to score against the Austrian goalie in the seventh minute. A few seconds later, Taro Jentzsch appeared in front of the Austrian goalie and narrowly missed the saver. Mike Fischer converted the third scoring opportunity with the advantage to give the German team a deserved 1-0 lead. The DEB-Selection dominated the first 20 minutes, but was surprised by Benjamin Lanzinger with the equalizer shortly before the third siren.
The goal gave the Austrians a boost of self-confidence and created more chances at the start of the middle period. But after the country's neighbor failed several times due to German goalie Hendrik Hane, captain Moritz Seider struck on the other side. The 17-year-old put the puck in the left corner and gave the team a 2-1 lead. However, the German team was denied success after 60 minutes: Lukas Schreier pushed the puck over the line to equalize in the 52nd minute and forced extra time. There Tim Brunnhuber had the greatest opportunity to decide the game. But the 19-year-old failed because of the Austrian goalie.
The Austrians took the lead twice in the penalty shootout, but Tim Brunnhuber and Dominik Bokk equalized. After Niklas Wurschl broke his stick during the penalty, Alexander Ehl took advantage to score the German team their opening win at the 2019 IIHF U20 Ice Hockey World Championship.
Even before the game, France caused the first surprise of the tournament with a 3-1 win against Latvia. In the evening Belarus will face Norway from 20.00 p.m. The latter nation is also the upcoming opponent of the German team. Tomorrow, Monday, the team of U20 national coach Christian Künast will meet the Scandinavians from 19.00 p.m.
Christian Künast, U20 national coach: “It was the expected difficult start to the home World Cup with a happier ending for us. The team started the game nervously, but in the end the victory counts.”
Moritz Seider, captain of the U20 national team: “That was an extremely important opening win for us. We let the Austrians come into the game and often counterattacked. We have to do better in the future.”
Germany: Hane (Mnich) – Ugbekile, Gawanke; Appendino, Seider; Wirth, Hüttl; Heinzinger, Preto – Schütz, Jentzsch, Bokk; Fischer, Brunnhuber, Valenti; Streu, Wohlgemuth, Lobach; Ehl, Knobloch, Bassler
Gates: 1:0 Fischer (8th - PP / Ass.: Schütz, Seider), 1:1 Lanzinger (20th - PP / Baumgartner, Maier), 2:1 Seider (29th / Bokk, Appendino), 2:2 Schreier (52nd), 3:2 Ehl (65th – penalty)
Penalty minutes: Germany 6 – Austria 24
You can find all the statistics for the game HERE.