This Tuesday evening, the German U20 national team completed the third test match as part of their preparation for the 2024 IIHF U20 World Championship in Gothenburg. The team of U20 national coach Tobias Abstreiter lost to the Norwegian young talent selection in the Lassalyckans Ishall by a narrow margin of 4:5 after extra time. The goals on the German side were scored by Kevin Bicker (13th), Eric Hördler (24th), Moritz Elias (54th) and Veit Oswald (58th).
Matthias Bittner started in the German goal in this game. Philipp Dietl took a place on the bench as a back-up for him. Both teams started the first 20 minutes of the game in Ulricehamn evenly. The German team scored their first goal in the 13th minute thanks to Kevin Bicker. The leadership of the German U20 national team was not resisted for a long time. Just 9 seconds after the opening goal DEB-Selection, the Norwegian Christopher Lie scored the equalizer for the opponents, which immediately got the team going. The Norwegian young talent team scored two more times in the first third thanks to Sander Wold and Johannes Lokkeberg. So the German selection went into the first break with a 1:3 deficit.
In the middle section both teams increased the tempo. In the 24th minute it was Eric Hördler who made the team around U20 national coach Tobias Abstreiter cheer again and scored the goal to make it 2-3. Germany and Norway were now clearly fighting for every possession of the puck. However, neither team managed to put another goal on the scoreboard.
After the last break, the German team increasingly felt the pressure on Norwegian Markus Stensrud's goal. With 6:32 minutes left in the final third, Germany equalized. Thanks to the preparatory work by Nuremberg's Roman Kechter, Moritz Elias brought the puck behind the opponent's goal line to make it 3-3. But Norway didn't let up either and created good chances. In the 57th minute, the Norwegian team took the lead again thanks to Michael Brandsegg-Nygard. The German team was behind again and was pushing for a goal. And this followed quickly. Just under a minute later and 2 minutes before the end, Veit Oswald shot the disc into the Norwegian goal and brought it on DEBteam in overtime.
At the start of overtime, it looked for a long time as if the German team would secure victory. However, Michael Brandsegg-Nygard prevented this with his goal in the 63rd minute. Germany is still waiting for its first victory in the World Cup preparation phase.
On Friday, December 22, 2023, the German U20 national team will meet the team from Slovakia in the fourth test match of the World Cup preparations.
All German games and all games from the knockout round of the 2024 IIHF U20 World Championship can be seen live and exclusively on MagentaSport and MagentaTV. The German games are available to everyone free of charge – without a subscription and without registration.
The game plan of the German U20 national team
14.12.2023/19/30 | XNUMX:XNUMX p.m. | Test match | Germany – Switzerland 3:4 nP (goals: J. Marsh (2x), M. Anton)
15.12.2023/14/30 | XNUMX:XNUMX p.m. | Test match | Germany – Switzerland 1:6 (goal: M. Elias)
19.12.2023/19/00 | XNUMX:XNUMX p.m. | Test match | Germany – Norway 4:5 aet (goals: K. Bicker, E. Hördler, M. Elias, V. Oswald)
22.12.2023/19/00 | XNUMX:XNUMX p.m. | Test match | Germany – Slovakia
27.12.2023/14/30 | XNUMX:XNUMX p.m. | Finland – Germany
28.12.2023/19/30 | XNUMX:XNUMX p.m. | Germany - Sweden
30.12.2023/19/30 | XNUMX:XNUMX p.m. | Germany – Latvia
31.12.2023 | 19:30 | Canada – Germany