The men's national team lost the first of two matches against Slovakia. In front of 2.798 spectators in the Tipsport Arena in Banska Bystrica, the match ended 4-0 (1-0, 2-0, 1-0). Eleven players from the squad played in an A international match for the first time today.
The Slovaks had the better start into the game: After 55 seconds Sebastian Čederle on his international debut with the first shot to the 1:0 (1th). Although the DEBThe team got into their stride shortly afterwards and created their first opportunities, but the hosts kept up the pressure and remained dangerous. Power plays for Slovakia and the German team remained unused, so the first break came without any further goals.
The first opportunity in the middle third belonged to the DEBteam after just a few seconds through Boaz Bassen, who hit the post. In the 25nd minute achieved Čederle breast second goal of the evening. Despite the 0:2 deficit, the DEBteam had further opportunities: Yannick Proske and Roman Kechter failed in quick succession against the Slovakian goalkeeper, Roman Rychlik also parried the shot of Philip Feist after a DEB-Counterattack. In the 32nd minute Čederle increased with his hat trick on 3:0halftime score.
The final period also began with a goalless power play for the German team, which then had to do a lot of defensive work. The Slovaks remained extremely dangerous, especially on the counterattack. This was also the case in the 50th minute when Arno Tiefensee was able to prevent the fourth Slovak goal. A third power play for Harold Kreis's team was without any notable scenes. Almost six minutes before the end, Daniel Tkac 4-0 final score.
DEBplayer of the evening the novel Roman Kechter.
Already tomorrow Thursday at 18:00 p.m it is again against the Slovaks. The game will again take place in Banska Bystrica (live and free on MagentaSport).
Voices about the game
National coach Harold Kreis: "This is not the result we were hoping for. The team certainly put in a good effort. But at this level, it's the little things that make the difference. At times, we didn't get the puck cleanly out of our own zone and played a little too complicated. We will now analyze the game in detail and make some adjustments for tomorrow."
Captain Alexander Blank: "Considering that we've only had one training session together, a lot of things were pretty good. Especially since Arno kept us in the game with a lot of saves. There's still a lot we need to work on and look at in the video study for tomorrow. We knew that the Slovakians have a big, strong team that plays fast hockey. We need to prepare better for that tomorrow and improve a few things in our game. Above all, we need to move the puck faster and play more simply. That also includes getting more pucks on goal."