The German men's national team has secured its second victory and the next three points within 24 hours at the 2023 IIHF World Championship. In front of 7.451 spectators in the Nokia Arena, the German team defeated Austria 4-2. Goal scorer for the DEB-Selections were Nico Sturm (2), Parker Tuomie and Wojciech Stachowiak.
Compared to the previous day, there were no changes in the German team's lineup. The starting position was clear for both teams: Germany absolutely wanted to keep scoring points in order to maintain a chance of reaching the quarter-finals. As the bottom of the group, Austria also wanted to score points in order to make up ground in the table.
That got off to a better start DEBteam and also the first chances. Dominik Kahun deflected a slap shot, which Austria's goalie David Kickert was able to catch. In the fifth minute, Nico Sturm caught a rebound in front of the German goal, ran alone in coast-to-coast style towards the Austrian goal and tunneled Kickert to make it 1-0. Two minutes after the lead, the DEB-Team outnumbered. The Austrians got into the game better and equalized in the twelfth minute with the same number of players through Bernd Wolf. The DEBThe men then found their rhythm again. In the 17th minute, Wojciech Stachowiak passed the puck to Parker Tuomie, who rounded the Austrian defense and scored the 2-1 halftime score.
That remained the case in the second half of the game DEBteam stayed true to their plan and continued to create good opportunities. The Austrians also had dangerous scenes in front of the German goal and had the best opportunity in the 24th minute. Thomas Raffl's shot slipped past Mathias Niederberger, but Fabio Wagner saved the German lead. The penalty time against Parker Tuomie survived that DEBteam unscathed, but the Austrians continued to gain momentum. In the 33rd minute, Wojciech Stachowiak circled through the Austrian defense and scored his first international goal to make it 3-1.
With the two-goal lead for the DEBteam went into the final third. Here, national coach Harold Kreis' team acted more cautiously so as not to take any risks with the lead. The Austrians used the space to make good shots in places, which Mathias Niederberger parried with strong saves. In the 54th minute, the German goalkeeper was powerless when Ali Wukovits' shot was deflected by Lukas Haudum to make it 3-2. The Austrians took their time out shortly before the end and then put everything on one card when David Kickert left the goal. Nico Sturm intercepted a pass in the 59th minute, stormed alone towards the empty goal and made the final score 4-2.
On Saturday the DEB-Selection free of play, there is a training session on the daily schedule in the early afternoon. The next World Cup game follows on Sunday. At 15:20 p.m. the opponent in the penultimate group game is France.