The German national team lost the third international match of the Euro Hockey Challenge in Karlsbad (Czech Republic). They lost in the KV Arena DEB-Selection of the Czech team 4:5 (2:4, 1:0, 1:1).
As expected, national coach Toni Söderholm made personnel changes to the squad. Dustin Strahlmeier made his first appearance in goal today in preparation for the World Cup. Mathias Niederberger and Niklas Treutle had previously each played against Slovakia. Treutle and defender Jonas Müller took a break today.
The initial phase belonged to the hosts, who started with a lot of pressure and DEB-Forced the selection into the defensive. In the power play, the Czechs took advantage of their superiority and made it 1-0 through Kuba Krejčík (6th). Shortly afterwards the hosts celebrated again, this time Honza Kolář (7th) had overcome Dustin Strahlmeier.
A short time later, Tim Wohlgemuth was hit in the face by a high stick and had to leave the ice in distress. The German national team used the following power play to fight their way back into the game. With a double strike from Lean Bergmann (8th/9th), the DEB-Choose the balance. But before the break, the Czech Republic took the lead again with two goals from David Tomášek (14th) and Ondra Beránek (20th).
In the second section, the German national team presented itself in a combative manner. Marco Nowak (25th) scored the next goal. Even after that, both teams gave each other nothing and fought doggedly. National coach Toni Söderholm's team had the best chance to equalize before the break through Marcel Kurth (37th), but the Czech goalie made an excellent save. On the other side, Dustin Strahlmeier was also able to excel, so that no further goals were scored before the second break.
The German team tried to score an equalizer early in the final period, but were unable to reap rewards for their further offensive efforts. After a penalty against Parker Tuomie, the Czechs, in the person of Tomáš Mertl, finally put the disc in the goal in the 52nd minute. The DEB-Selection continued their offensive actions and had another good opportunity to score through Gerrit Fauser's shot against the post in the 56th minute.
Only seconds later she took action DEB-Selection with one more man on the ice, which was promptly used by Marc Michaelis (57th) to make it 4:5. Then the German final offensive rolled towards the Czech goal. Fabio Wagner had the opportunity to equalize a minute before the end after a strong combination, but was denied by the Czech goalie. This should have been the last chance to score for the German team, which despite an attractive, fast game ultimately suffered a narrow 4:5 defeat against the Czech Republic.
The German national team will meet the Czech Republic again in Karlovy Vary on Thursday (17.20:XNUMX p.m., live and free on MagentaSport).
Toni Söderholm, national coach: “It was a hard-fought, high-tempo game for both teams. The boys showed good effort and gave themselves a chance to get back into the game. Of course it was a different game than against the Slovaks, but you can learn a lot from today’s game in particular for future challenges.”