The U20 national team lost 20:0 (4:0; 1:0; 2:0) in the only preparatory game against the U1 team from Slovakia. At the Peavey Mart Centrium in Red Deer, the Slovaks had significantly more of the game offensively with 32:18 shots on goal.
The team of U20 national coach Tobias Abstreiter had a difficult time getting into the game at the beginning. The Slovakians were slightly superior in the first six minutes. Florian Bugl (Landshut/Salzburg), on the other hand, was on the ball from the start. After that, the German team got into the game better and had their first chance to score through Maciej Rutkowski (Krefeld) in the seventh minute. The two teams neutralized each other for the rest of the third. Shortly before the end of the third, Germany had to play a shorthanded situation after a penalty from Alexander Blank (Krefeld) and conceded the first goal from a deflected shot.
Right at the beginning of the middle period, the German team had a great chance to equalize through Markus Schweiger (Peißenberg/Kaufbeuren). Unfortunately, this remained unused and shortly afterwards the score was 0:2. Germany tried to get back into the game, but repeatedly failed due to the compact defense of the Slovaks, who in turn often counterattacked dangerously. After another chance to score from the Slovakian team, which experts rated as strong, Luca Münzenberger (Düsseldorf/Cologne), who was drafted by the Edmonton Oilers, had to go to the penalty box. The Slovaks used this power play to make it 0:3. Afterwards, the German juniors were able to put two or three good moves on the ice when they were in the majority, but they were denied a goal. In the 32nd minute, the previously agreed goalkeeper change took place from Bugl to Nikita Quapp (Ravensburg/Krefeld), who was drafted by the Carolina Hurricanes. The middle section was also predominantly controlled by the Slovaks. Shortly before the end of the third, the German team had a good chance, but again couldn't use it to score a goal.
In an outnumbered situation right at the start of the final period, Quapp had to demonstrate all his skills and prevented his first goal. In the 46th minute of the game, when Münzenberger was in the penalty box again, Quapp had to reach behind him for the first time and the Slovaks increased the lead to 0:4 in the power play. The German team didn't want to score a goal in this dress rehearsal.
U20 national coach Tobias Abstreiter: "We lost the game because we didn't work hard enough in the duels. Our decisions were sometimes too complicated. We have to accept the duels in the next games and show more physical presence. Our special teams also have to be better if we want to be successful. We will now use the next two days to analyze and focus on the start of the tournament."
DEB-Sports director Christian Künast: “The Slovaks were the better and more active team today. We still have some work to do before the tournament starts."