Second neighborhood duel within two days: On Saturday evening, the German national team met Austria again in Deggendorf. After the narrow 2:3 defeat, they wanted to DEB-Selection once again experienced a sense of success in front of a sold-out crowd of 2.790 spectators in the Deggendorf ice stadium.
National coach Toni Söderholm was again able to rely on the services of striker Fabio Pfohl, who had to sit out due to illness on Thursday. Eight defenders and 13 strikers were on the German national team's squad list. In goal, Dustin Strahlmeier received his second appearance in preparation for the World Cup. Mathias Niederberger was available as a backup. This time Moritz Müller wore the “C” as captain.
A competitive game developed between the two teams, in which both teams made sure not to give their opponents much space. While Dustin Strahlmeier only had to intervene a few times, his counterpart David Kickert had several promising attacks DEB-Choose more to do. Shortly before the end of the first period, Germany increased the pressure again. However, no goals were scored at the first break.
That changed in the second section. First, the Austrians scored in the majority when Lukas Haudum (24') left Dustin Strahlmeier without a chance to defend. Now the German national team increased the tempo and took advantage of a powerful power play: After a pass from Dominik Kahun and Leon Draisaitl, Leo Pföderl (27th) scored the deserved equalizer. And the DEB-Selection remained on the trigger. In the 30th minute of the game, Frederik Tiffels shot the disc onto the goal. Leon Draisaitl hit the disc in the air in the style of a baseball player. Until the second break, Germany remained in the lead, which they deserved based on their share of the game.
The German team got off to a lively start in the final third, but their own momentum was lost due to a penalty from Marc Michaelis. After surviving the penalty period, the DEB-Selection really started again: Leon Draisaitl completed an attack via Lean Bergmann and David Elsner to make it 3-1 for the German selection (48th). After short video evidence, his second goal of the day was recognized. Three minutes later, Lean Bergmann made it 4-1. However, the conclusion should once again belong to Leon Draisaitl, who celebrated his third goal and fourth point of the game with the goal to make it 5-1 in the 57th minute.
The third phase of World Cup preparations ends with the international match in Deggendorf. The German national team will come together again on Thursday, May 2, 2019 in Mannheim to finally prepare for the 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Slovakia.
On Tuesday, May 7, 2019, the German national team will meet the USA in the SAP Arena in Mannheim. The game starts at 19.00 p.m. Tickets are available www.deb-online.de/tickets.
Toni Söderholm, national coach: “The boys did a very clean job today. We had significantly more power to score - this is exactly what we had discussed before the game. We didn't concentrate on the 'beautiful' ice hockey today and performed much better as a result. Now we as a coaching team have to make very difficult decisions again.”
You can find all the statistics for the game HERE.