The German women's national team starts the tournament at the 2023 IIHF Women's World Championship in Canada with a victory. The team led by women's national coach Thomas Schädler wins its opening game at the CAA Centre Brampton, with a clear 6:2 against the favored Swedes. Goal scorers for the DEBThe selections were Franziska Feldmeier (19th & 56th), Laura Kluge (25th), Celina Haider (26th & 48th) and Svenja Voigt (34th). Lilli Welcke had to leave before the start of the tournament due to injury. The striker suffered a lower body injury in the preseason game against Switzerland. Jule Schiefer joined the team to replace them. In the second preliminary round game, the German women's national team will meet the team from Finland tomorrow, Friday, April 7, 2023. The game starts at 21:00 p.m. German time.
The much better start to this opening game DEB-Women caught their opponents from Sweden. After just 10 seconds, Hilda Svensson put the puck behind the German goal line for the first time. After this initial shock, the German team found their way back into the game and created their first good power play chance in the 15th minute through Laura Kluge and Nicola Eisenschmid. Towards the end of the third, the Swedes were stronger again and increasingly looked for a way in front of Sandra Abstreiter's goal. Germany, on the other hand, pressed for an equalizer, managed to hold out and keep the puck in the Swedish third. Then, in the third German power play, relief came - 1:45 minutes before the end of the first 20 minutes, it was Franziska Feldmeier who scored the equalizer for the German side.
In the middle section they laid DEB-Women followed suit and brought the disc to the Swede Emma Soderberg's goal with speed and significant pressure. In the 25th minute, Laura Kluge scored the German women's national team's first lead. But the score didn't stay at 2-1 from the German perspective for long. Theresa Wagner secured the target just a few seconds later, quickly brought it in front of the opposing goal and made it possible for Germany to score again with a pass to Celina Haider (26th). The leadership expansion of the DEBteam forced the Swedes to take their first time out and this also made its mark in the game. The Swedes increasingly gained possession again and the scorer of the first Swedish goal, Hilda Svensson, put her team on the scoreboard for the second time in this encounter in the 26th minute. As the game progressed, both teams didn't let up and tried to get into the opponent's third again and again. Germany, on the other hand, does not allow the big chances, but uses them to extend the lead again to 4:2 through Svenja Voigt (34th).
After the last break of the game, the Swedes had significantly more puck possession in the game and got closer to Sandra Abstreiter's goal in the third period. But Germany was the more effective team despite Sweden's increased shots on goal. With a rebound on goal, Celina Haider scored her second goal and fourth point of the game in the 48th minute. In this case, the German striker secures the puck with her stick and makes it possible DEB-Women's fifth goal of the game. With one more field player on the ice and the empty goal, Sweden tried to catch up, but the German women's national team also took advantage of this situation. Franziska Feldmeier also scored a second time and rounded off the victory in the end DEBteam with their 6:2.
Women’s national coach Thomas Schädler: “Of course I’m very proud of the whole team and the whole staff after this great win against the Swedes. We had drawn up a plan in advance of how we wanted to design the game and it worked very well. It was also important for us as a team that we didn't let ourselves get unsettled after the first quick goal we conceded. We continued to believe in ourselves and deserved to win the game.”
Striker Celina Haider: “Of course I’m super happy. Also a big thank you to my teammates, without them none of this would have been possible. Everything just went right today and I'm going into the next game with a good feeling. We haven't been so lucky in the last few games, so it's even nicer now to go into the next game with six goals and a win.”
Striker Laura Kluge: “In the next game against Finland, we have to do exactly what we did today and rely on our strengths.”
MagentaSport will show all German matches as well as the final of the 2023 IIHF Women’s World Championship in Canada live and free of charge.
The game plan of the German women's national team
April 06.04.2023, 11 | 00:17 (German time 00:XNUMX p.m.) | Germany – Sweden 6:2 (1:1, 3:1, 2:0)
April 07.04.2023, 15 | 00:21 p.m. (German time 00:XNUMX p.m.) | Finland – Germany
Aug 09.04.2023, 19 | 00:01 (German time 00:1 +XNUMX) | Germany - France
April 11.04.2023, 11 | 00:17 (German time 00:XNUMX p.m.) | Hungary – Germany