Last tough test before the 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Slovakia: On Tuesday evening, the German national team met group opponents USA. In the sold-out SAP Arena, the final score was 2:5 (2:1, 0:1, 0:3) from the German team's perspective.
What a magnificent backdrop in Mannheim. 13.000 ice hockeyFans were there at the last appearance of both teams before leaving for Slovakia and cheered the teams on. National coach Toni Söderholm had nominated 27 players for the final phase of World Cup preparations. Goalkeeper Dustin Strahlmeier, defender Fabio Wagner and the two strikers Gerrit Fauser and Stefan Loibl did not play against the USA. The national coach divided the playing time between Mathias Niederberger and Niklas Treutle in goal.
Niederberger started in goal against the USA selection, which had many NHL players DEB-Selection. The German team's route was clear early on: stand compactly at the back and then use quick counterattacks to get in front of the opponent's goal. Despite a slightly larger share of the game for the USA, Germany initially had the better chances. In fact, Marcus Eisenschmid (11th) took the lead after preparation from Leon Draisaitl and Matthias Plachta. The US boys were able to equalize through Noah Hanfin (14th), but just a little later Dominik Kahun (16th) took the lead again. On the other hand, Mathias Niederberger was able to distinguish himself a few times. The hard-working German team had the necessary luck when they hit the post, so the score remained at half-time.
In the second half, the spectators continued to see a fast-paced game with beautiful combinations. When the USA equalized, Jack Eichel played the face-off to Clayton Keller (28th), who was standing unmarked in front of the goal, who gave Niederberger no chance to defend from close range. A little later the planned change in goal took place. Niklas Treutle was also able to distinguish himself several times when he thwarted first-class opportunities for the Americans. On the other side it was earned DEB-Select some excellent options. No more goals were scored until halftime.
In the third period of the game, the US selection turned up the heat. With a bit of luck, Alex de Brincat put the disc into the German goal in the 45th minute via Korbinian Holzer. James van Riemsdyk increased the score to 4-2 for the visitors six minutes later. Germany tried everything again two minutes before the end and took Niklas Treutle off the ice in favor of an additional skater. However, the opponent, Johnny Gaudreau, took advantage of this to score an empty net goal and make the final score 5-2.
On Wednesday, the German national team travels to Kosice, the venue for Group A. They will play their first World Cup game DEB-Selection on Saturday, May 11, 2019. The opponent is newly promoted Great Britain. The game starts at 16.15:XNUMX p.m.
All games of the 2019 IIHF World Championship in Slovakia will be broadcast live on SPORT1.
You can find all the statistics for the game HERE.