The German women's national team also won its last preliminary round game at the 2024 IIHF Women's World Championship and is at the top of Group B with four wins from four games. For the first time in the history of the Women's World Championship, the German team wins in the Preliminary round all games. Women's national coach Jeff MacLeod's team won against China 3-0 (2-0, 0-0, 1-0). The goals for them DEBLaura Kluge, Emily Nix and Bernadette Karpf were selected.
In the last preliminary round game, goalie Sandra Abstreiter got a break. Lisa Hemmerle started in goal for them, appearing as starting goalie at a World Cup for the first time. Her backup was Hannah Loist. The starting six otherwise remained unchanged - Daria Gleißner, Ronja Hark, Nicola Eisenschmid, Emily Nix and Laura Kluge started for the German team.
The German team got off to a real lightning start - took the lead after just 28 seconds through Laura Kluge. As a result, the DEB-Selection started the game and increased it to 16-2 in the 0th minute through Emily Nix. In the entire opening third, the German defense did not allow the Chinese to have a shot on goal. In the middle section, the German team continued to dominate the game, but was unable to extend the result. Goalie Lisa Hemmerle was given the opportunity to distinguish herself for the first time - in the end she would get 9 shots on her goal.
In the final period, Emily Nix had the opportunity to make it 3-0, but was denied by the Chinese goalkeeper Zhan. The German team was then awarded a penalty shot, which Franziska Feldmeier was unable to put in the goal. The third German goal was still to come: Bernadette Karpf put the puck in the empty Chinese goal 2,5 minutes before the end and increased the final score to 3-0.
The German team will face the third place in Group A in the quarter-finals of the World Cup on April 11, 2024. The exact opponent will be determined after the game between the Czech Republic and Switzerland. The time is communicated throughout the day. MagentaSport broadcasts all German World Cup games live and free of charge.
DEB-Sports director Christian Künast: “We are pleased with the strong preliminary round and have drawn an extremely positive interim conclusion. The team achieved four wins with a lot of commitment and passion, thus securing the group victory and thus also making it clear that they reached the quarter-finals, which is so important for us. The coaching staff around Jeff MacLeod and the entire team around the team have done an excellent job so far. This team unity is certainly the key to being successful in the final round. Everyone is really looking forward to Thursday.”
Women's national coach Jeff MacLeod: “After yesterday’s experience, which was a real highlight, it wasn’t easy to play today’s game. Our team went into the game focused and we made a few small adjustments during the game. So we completed the task against China. We have continued to improve since arriving here in the US and our confidence has grown accordingly. We are ready for the quarter-finals and looking forward to it.”
Captain Daria Gleißner: “We were good defensively and didn’t give up much today. Our use of opportunities could certainly have been a little better. Overall, we can be satisfied with this result and are very happy that we were able to achieve four wins. Now it's all about the quarter-finals and we'll give it our all to progress. If we do the little things right, we have a good chance. We will now gather our strength and then deal with the game and the opponent on Thursday.”
World Cup schedule for the German women’s national team:
04.04.2024/15/00 | 21:00 p.m. (German time XNUMX:XNUMX p.m.) | Denmark - Germany 1:5 (0:1, 0:1, 1:3)
06.04.2024/15/00 | 21:00 p.m. (German time XNUMX:XNUMX p.m.) | Japan – Germany 1:4 (0:0, 0:2, 1:2)
April 08.04.2024, 11 | 00:17 (German time 00:XNUMX p.m.) | Germany – Sweden 1:0 (0:0, 0:0, 1:0)
April 09.04.2024, 11 | 00:17 (German time 00:XNUMX p.m.) | Germany – China 3:0 (2:0, 0:0, 1:0)
April 11.04.2024, 13 | Quarterfinals | 30:19 p.m. (German time 30:XNUMX p.m.) | Czech Republic - Germany