The men's national team suffered a narrow defeat against Slovakia in their second match within 24 hours. In front of 2.831 spectators in the Tipsport Arena in Banska Bystrica, the international match ended 1:3 from a German perspective. Goal scorer for the DEBDefender Jimmy Martinovic was a member of the selection and scored his first international goal. Tomorrow, Friday morning, the men's national team will travel back to Germany.
As planned, Hendrik Hane was given his first start in goal today, and Simon Wolf was again available as backup. There were no other changes to the lineup, however - also because striker Veit Oswald had to miss today's game due to a cold.
Based on the findings from yesterday’s game, the DEBselection had a much more compact start to the match. The German back line initially allowed little, especially in the defensive zone. After a few minutes, Noah Dunham had the lead on goal when the DEBteam was awarded a penalty shot. But the puck hit the post. first goal of the evening The Slovaks then shot when the penalty was announced striker Rayen Petrovicky from the slot. A goal would have been well deserved on the other side too due to the good offensive actions of the German team. But Eugen Rabcan in the Slovakian goal thwarted the equalizer with several brilliant saves.
In the second period, little changed in the balance of power on the ice. Both teams were on equal footing, but at the halfway point it was again the DEBselection, which pressed for an equaliser and kept the Slovakian back line busy. After a counterattack, however, the Slovakians, who were able to celebrate again, were Sebastian Cederle the 2:0 for his colors.
In the final period, Germany continued to push and was finally able to celebrate for the first time. Jimmy Martinovic (43.) had shot from the blue line and beat the strong Slovakian goalkeeper. Even after that, it was the DEBselection, which continued to work persistently to equalize. In the final minutes, Hendrik Hane left the goal in favor of a sixth field player. But the Slovakians were able to capture the puck and pushed it into the empty German goal to 1-3 final score from the perspective of DEBselection. Tomorrow, Friday, the national team will travel back to Germany.
Voices about the game
National coach Harold Kreis: "Today we worked better in positional play and with our stick. This enabled us to pin the Slovakians in their defensive zone and create good scoring opportunities. Overall, it was a strong team performance and an improvement on yesterday, which the opposing coaching team also acknowledged after the game. It also says a lot that the opposing goalkeeper was named the best player on their side. We have shown enough determination over the days here and perhaps this first game was what we needed to get into it. We then talked about a few things that the team implemented really well today."
Goalscorer Jimmy Martinovic: "The team performance today was much better than yesterday. We could certainly have won today if you look at the whole game, but in the end it was a bit unfortunate for us. I would have much preferred a win than scoring my first goal in an international match. Nevertheless, I was happy about it and I'm taking the great feeling of scoring the first goal with me."