With seven debutants and a number of other young players, the German national ice hockey team lost the first World Cup test match in Slovakia by a narrow margin. The team of national coach Toni Söderholm lost the first competitive test match for the title fights in Riga/Latvia (21 May to 6 June) in Piestany, Slovakia, by a narrow 3:4 (2:0, 1:2, 0:1, 0:0) after a penalty shootout. Nuremberg's Daniel Schmölz (6th), Krefeld's Laurin Braun (10th/power) and Düsseldorf's debutant Alexander Ehl (29th/power) scored for the selection of the German Ice Hockey Federation. On Sunday there will be another performance comparison between the world number seven and the world number ninth at the same venue (16 p.m./live and free on MagentaSport).
In goal, Söderholm chose Niklas Treutle from Nuremberg, who was named the best German player of the evening. He chose as captain DEBCoach for the two games in Slovakia selected Marco Nowak from Düsseldorf, who was assisted by Braun and Oliver Mebus from Nuremberg. In addition to Ehl, Julius Karrer (Nuremberg), Tobias Eder (Düsseldorf), Maximilian Eisenmenger (Ausgburg), Boaz Bassen, Daniel Pfaffengut (both Schwenningen) and Alexander Blank (Krefeld) also celebrated their international debut.
In the opening third, Treutle was able to excel in the first few minutes before the DEB-Selection became offensively dangerous and took the lead thanks to Schmölz's technically impressive first international goal. Braun (10th) increased the number after a pass from Düsseldorf's Daniel Fischbuch. In the middle section, Miroslav Mucha (23') and Milos Bubela (34') scored for the hosts, but the German lead held thanks to Ehl's (29'/majority) international goal premiere. Daniil Fominykh (57th) made it 3-3 for the Slovaks in the final minutes, for whom David Buc scored the decisive goal in the shootout.
After the Sunday game he travels DEB- The group returns to Nuremberg in two buses, where the second phase of World Cup preparations begins next Tuesday, which will conclude with the two home international games against the Czech Republic (April 29th and May 1st).
National coach Toni Söderholm: “There were a lot of positive things throughout the game. We made individual mistakes, but that's part of the game and helps us move forward. I think as a first step for many new players it was a positive experience. We have to act a little more clearly in the second game and do a little better without the disc.”
Laurin Braun: "We started well and took a few too many penalties in the second period. Penalty shootouts are always a bit of luck. Just being able to be an assistant made me very honored and proud. A goal and an assist are nice, I'm happy to take that, even if a win would have been even nicer."
Niklas Treutle: “It was okay for the first game, we did a lot of things right. We were perhaps a bit too passive in the second half of the game, but it was definitely a good game to prepare for. There are definitely some small things to improve for tomorrow, we will just give it our all again and then we can win the game.”
Alexander Ehl: “It was an intense, very fast game and we have a chance to make amends tomorrow. I was really happy about the goal, I was still shaking a bit, but the joy was even greater.”
Photos: Andrej Galica