Three points in the third game. That was the German U18 national team's plan for the World Cup game on Monday evening. U18 national coach Alexander Dück's selection absolutely had to win against Slovakia in order to avoid relegation. But in the end that was it DEB-Team left empty-handed despite the best tournament performance. The Slovaks won the game 6:4.
From the start, the German U18 team showed that this game would be different to the two previous appearances. The boys created chances early in the game. The Slovakians also had good opportunities, but Leon Willerscheid in the German goal parried them safely. In the power play, Dalibor Dvorsky finally found a way to get the puck past Willerscheid to make it 0-1 (16th minute). But the German team took this blow well and used a power play two minutes later to equalize: Norwin Panocha kept an eye on the slot and scored the first power play goal for Germany in this tournament.
After the first break there was another penalty against the Slovakian team. Julius Marsh then used the space on the ice - with a wrist shot he shot from the blue line and made it 2-1 (22nd). The direct answer didn't take long to arrive: Daniel Jencko scored from a tight angle to equalize 2-2 (23'). And this equalizer didn't last long either: when a penalty was called against the Slovaks, Germany was able to increase the pressure with the additional field player. Varim Schneider then stood in exactly the right place and fired the disc into the goal to make it 3-2 (26th). As the Slovaks pushed for the equalizer again, Linus Brandl played a long pass into Kevin Bicker's path. The man from Mannheim converted his solo effort to make it 4-2 (30th). At the end of the third, Slovakia increased the pressure and reduced the score to 4:3 through Dalibor Dvorky (37th).
In the final third, both teams set a high pace. There were hardly any interruptions, but there were plenty of chances on both sides. Eight and a half minutes before the end of the period, Dalibor Dvorsky completed his hat trick with the score 4:4. Four and a half minutes before the end of regular time, Lua Niehus was given a game misconduct penalty for checking his head. When they were outnumbered, Dalibor Dvorsky scored the winning goal for the Slovaks (58th). Forty seconds before the end, Juraj Pekarcik put the lid on it with an empty-net goal.
The DEB-Team showed its best game in this tournament and even had the chance to win. In the end it wasn't enough to make it to the quarter-finals. The last group game against Sweden is on Tuesday afternoon. The game will be broadcast live and free of charge by MagentaSport.