The U18 national team won its third game at the U18 Ice Hockey World Championships in Denmark on Wednesday afternoon and remains undefeated at this tournament. The team led by U18 national coach André Rankel won 2-1 after extra time against Ukraine. Goal scorers for Team Germany were Elias Pul and Lenny Boos. Nick Maul was the best player.
The first third needed a bit of a start on both sides. The German selection had their first power play after around six minutes, but were then lucky not to concede a shorthanded goal on a Ukrainian counterattack. The strong majority game so far DEBThe boys didn't score a goal in the second power play that followed shortly afterwards. Things went better for the Ukrainians, who used the first penalty against the German team to take a 1-0 lead through Havrylo Simchuk (13th minute of the game). Both teams, who had not lost any points before the game, met on equal terms and created great excitement. But goals remained in short supply.
Ukraine didn't let that happen in the second third either DEB-Team only has a few opportunities to develop offensively. It was only with another penalty against the Ukrainians in the 28th minute that the German team managed to put more pressure on the Eastern Europeans' goal again. Elias Pul equalized almost four minutes before the break after a one-two with Nick Maul. A few seconds before the second siren, Team Germany even had the lead on the stick, but couldn't put the disc in the goal.
So it was a draw going into the final third. As in the first 40 minutes, this period initially had few compelling scoring opportunities, but there was all the more excitement. Five minutes had been played when Elias Pul had to leave the game in pain after a hard check. There was no punishment. Pul returned a little later. Shortly afterwards there was the next power play for the German U18s, who were now more successful. The team continued to maintain momentum after the two minutes had elapsed, but were unable to score their second goal. Around eight minutes before the end, Tobias Schwarz had to go to the penalty box for two minutes, but this had no further consequences. Just like the penalty against Max Hense two minutes before the end. The decision had to bring the extension into which the DEB-Team was able to go with one man more after the Ukrainians received a two-minute penalty just before the siren.
The DEBteam created top-class chances over the first three minutes of extra time. But the Ukrainian goalie always kept an overview and kept his team in the game. But in the 64th minute, Alexander Levshin had no chance when the Germans broke. David Lewandowski set up perfectly for Lenny Boos, who made it 2-1. The German team secures two points and remains at the top of the table.
Next game for them DEB-U18 is against Japan on Thursday.