The U20 national team lost the opening game at the U20 Summer Challenge in Poprad (Slovakia). The team led by the coaching team Tobias Abstreiter and Toni Söderholm lost to Slovakia 0:3 (0:0, 0:3, 0:0).
Slovakia had the first scoring opportunities of the match in the opening minutes through Adam Pauliny, Jakub Martiska and Oliver Okuliar. As a result, the German team also became more and more dangerous in front of the opponent's goal and created several scoring opportunities in a row, but they were unable to convert them into goals. The German goalie Florian Mnich distinguished himself in the 17th minute when he parried a shot from Maxim Cajkovic from the slot.
In the middle section, the hosts increased their offensive efforts and took control of the game - aided by numerous situations with the advantage. Adam Pauliny finally scored the lead for the Slovaks in the 27th minute. Eight minutes later, Maxim Cajkovic scored the goal to make it 2-0. The 18-year-old scored again in the majority for Slovakia. The host's third goal also came when they had the advantage: Martin Vitalos increased the lead to three goals when the third buzzer sounded. In the final period, both teams created chances to score, but neither the Slovakian nor the German team put the puck in the goal. The game ended 3-0 for the hosts from Slovakia.
Tobias Abstreiter, U20 national coach: “We started the game well and played an open game in the first third. Afterwards, we disrupted our own rhythm of the game with a lot of penalty times. Ultimately, the Slovaks took advantage of these situations and scored all three goals with the advantage. It is now important for us to analyze this game comprehensively in order to be able to prepare as best as possible for tomorrow’s opponent Denmark.”
You can find all the statistics for the game HERE.