The German U18 women's national team wins its first World Cup game against newly promoted Denmark 5:1 (4:0/1:1/0:0).
Right at the beginning, the German team had its first power play opportunity. And they brought the puck towards the goal again and again. But the puck still didn't want to find its way over the line. In the second power play a few moments later, the DEB-Selection quickly into the formation. Denmark was able to break free again and again, but Germany took the lead fourteen seconds before the penalty expired. Luisa Welcke brought the disc into the opponent's third and passed it to her sister Lilli. This passed across to Fine Raschke, who shot from the upper faceoff circle and scored to make it 1-0. Just a few plays later, Luisa Welcke intercepted a Danish pass at the opposing blue line, ran away from the Danish defender, left the goalkeeper standing and pushed in for a 2-0 lead. Head coach Franziska Busch's team played a subsequent power play confidently, but they didn't want to score another goal at that point. Annabella Sterzik, Fine Raschke and Sarah Kubiczek were able to create further chances, but they were unable to take advantage of any of them. On the other hand, Sofie Disl spent a quiet first third in the German goal. She confidently parried the few shots that came at her goal. Almost four minutes before the first break, that increased DEBteam to 3:0. Sarah Kubiczek scored in the margin for Germany. A short time later, Germany was given another power play opportunity. The target ran well through the German ranks, but either Emma Nordstrom was in the way of the Danish goal or the shots were too imprecise. Almost a minute of the advantage had expired when a German player had to take a seat in the penalty box. Denmark was just complete again when Lilli Welcke, outnumbered, made it 4-0 at halftime with a pawn trick.
Denmark came out of the locker room well in the second third and was able to make it 21:1 in the 4st minute. But Germany was not deterred by this and continued to put the Danes under pressure. In the 26th minute of the game, captain Franziska Klinger pulled away from the blue line and restored the old goal gap. Two minutes later, Ronja Hark ran alone towards Cassandra Repstock-Romme, who had now been substituted, but was denied by her. The puck was still in front of the empty Danish goal, but one after the other Sarah Kubiczek and Alina Leveringhaus missed the follow-up shot. A Danish penalty midway through the third brought the fifth German power play of the game. A shot from Jule Schiefer fluttered just past the goal line. Six minutes before the second break, Sarah Kubiczek missed the opponent's goal by centimeters after a pass from Alina Leveringhaus. Shortly before the second break, the German team received their second penalty of the game. But even with one less player she could DEB-Selection kept their opponents out of their own third and thus took the 5:1 into the last break.
In the last part of the game, the German team changed the goalkeeper. Tatjana Pfeifer came into goal for Sofie Disl. And she immediately had a lot to do, as the German team once again had to play with one less player. But she also confidently downplayed this minority. The game became more and more disjointed due to penalties on both sides, and neither team was able to gain a decisive advantage. The German team delivered a convincing power play with many top-class chances just under five minutes before the end. But the disc no longer wanted to cross the opposing goal line and so the German team won their opening game 5-1 against Denmark.
Franziska Busch, women’s national young talent trainer: “Congratulations to the team on the successful start to the tournament. We struggled against a very defensive and tactically disciplined opponent. Nevertheless, we were able to create a lot of chances and score five goals. Now we will analyze the game and prepare for tomorrow.”
Germany: Disl (Pfeifer) – Hark, Klinger (C); Kubiczek, Schiefer, Leveringhaus – Heinz, Raschke (A); Christof, Welcke, Luisa, Welcke, Lilli – Strompf, Merkle; Gruchot (A), Miller, Fiedler – Cyrulies, Sterzik, Bartell
Goals: 1:0 Fine Raschke (5:35/PP1); 2:0 Luisa Welcke (7:47); 3:0 Sarah Kubiczek (16:15); 4:0 Lilli Welcke (19:13/SH1); 4:1 Emma Mathiesen (20:22); 5:1 Franziska Klinger (25:23)
Penalty minutes: Germany 14 – Denmark 16