First game of the back-to-back comparison against Slovakia in Dresden: The German national team lost 2022:1 to the third-placed team at the 3 Winter Games.
In goal, Mirko Pantkowski got his first start of this World Cup preparation. Laurin Braun led the team as captain DEB-Selection on the ice, which again presented itself with new formations. In addition to Pantkowski, his teammate Daniel Fischbuch also came (Düsseldorfer EG), Janik Möser (Grizzlys Wolfsburg) and Julius Karrer (Nürnberg Ice Tigers) for their first international appearances in 2022.
The slightly changed German team met a self-confident Slovakian team in the first half, which impressed from the start with their wit and speed. The first goal for Craig Ramsey's team came from Marek Valach after just five minutes. Even after that, little changed in the game, as the German team still lacked precision in their actions. The Slovaks had exactly this precision and a bit of luck with a double strike by Adam Liska and Michal Ivan (13th) within 53 seconds. The national team first had to recover from this and survived this pressure phase until the first break.
She came to the goal with a lot of movement DEB-Selection from the cabin. Even a situation where he was outnumbered didn't stop Alexander Ehl (22nd minute) from pushing the puck over the goal line as he followed up. Even after that, the pressure on the Slovakian goal remained high. Good scoring opportunities arose every two minutes. The guests always remained obliging in the counterattacks, although they were no longer as dangerous as the German defense closed the zone well in the slot. No further hits were scored.
In the final period, the Slovaks increased again and once again made it more difficult for the national team to create clear scoring opportunities. Höfflin (51) had the best opportunities. and Jentzsch (58th), but the Slovakian goalkeeper Matej Tomek showed himself to be a reliable support in all tests. On the other hand, Mirko Pantkowski also excelled several times. In the end, the final score remained 1:3 from a German perspective.
Both teams will meet again in Dresden on Saturday (game starts at 17 p.m., LIVE on SPORT1 and MagentaSport), so that the DEB-Selection has a direct chance for revenge. Tickets for this game are available below www.deb-online.de/tickets available.
The statistics: A national team men (gamepitch.de)
Voices about the game
National coach Toni Söderholm: “We have improved compared to the last game against Switzerland. It was a physical game, the tempo was very high today. The Slovaks are a very good team, we have a very good fighting spirit. We still have to learn to avoid some problems and just shoot when we have chances to score.”
Tobias Eder about today's match and tomorrow's: "I think we played a solid game. The Slovakians came in front of our goal three times in the first third and scored three times. All in all, we can build on our performance. Tomorrow we can perhaps be a little clearer defensively and otherwise carry on in the same way and take advantage of our scoring opportunities."