U18 national team: win against Finland
The U18 national team won the third game against Finland at the 5-nation tournament in Zuchwil. After being behind for a while, they turned around DEB-Selection started the game in the final third and scored 4:2 (1:2, 0:0, 3:0).
U-18 national coach Steffen Ziesche's team was caught cold right from the start. Finland took the lead in the second minute of the game. The Finns were able to counter Jakub Borzecki's equalizer in the first third and went into the locker room with a score of 1:2.
A hard-fought game developed in the second third. The middle period remained goalless, with Team Germany missing a few chances and two powerplay situations.
The German selection did better in the final section. In the 42nd minute, Haakon Hänelt equalized. The game was on a knife edge until the end, then Florian Elias scored in the 59th minute. The Finns took full risk and took their goalkeeper off the ice in favor of a sixth field player, but the defense around German goalie Arno Tiefensee stood securely. The decision 5 seconds before the end of the game, Fabian Bassler scored into the empty goal.
The German team has their rest day tomorrow. The tournament ends on Monday against Slovakia. With seven out of nine possible points, winning the tournament is still possible.
Steffen Ziesche, U18 national coach: “I am proud of my team, they implemented the plan well against a very strong opponent over 60 minutes. In a great game at eye level, we were able to create a lot of chances and were rewarded with three points in the end. We need to confirm this performance on Monday against Slovakia.”
You can find all the statistics for the tournaments HERE
U16 national team: defeat against Finland
The German U4 national team also lost their second game at the 16-nation tournament in Slovakia. The German selection lost 2:7 (1:2, 0:2, 1:3) to Finland.
Team Germany started the game well against the favored Finns and took the lead early on through Benedikt Diebolder. The team of U-16 national coach Thomas Schädler showed clear improvement compared to the opening game in terms of willingness to run and playing skills. Nevertheless, it was not possible to keep the Finns in check throughout and they were ice-cold when it came to exploiting their chances. Finland scored twice in the first half and went into the first break with a score of 1:2. Even after the change, the German team held up well, but missed some good chances. The Finns again ice-cold their score increased to 4:1 in the second third.
In the final section, Moritz Elias scored to make it 2:6. With three more goals, the Finns increased the final score to 2:7.
Tomorrow at 14:30 p.m. the tournament will end against Switzerland.
Thomas Schädler, U16 national coach: “Unfortunately the result was a bit too high against a strong Finnish team. My team showed improvement, but we still have to do better in terms of exploiting our own chances and defensive work. These two points will be the main focus in tomorrow’s game against Switzerland.”
You can find all the statistics for the tournaments HERE