After the hat-trick of titles at the Germany Cup, the German national ice hockey team has no chance of its fourth success in a row. The team of national coach Harold Kreis lost against Olympic bronze medalist Slovakia 2:6 (0:1, 1:1, 1:4) and is only one point in fourth place. Slovakia, on the other hand, has already secured victory in the tournament. In the end, the German team against Austria on Sunday (3 p.m./Magentasport) is only concerned with a better ranking.
“The Slovaks were the better team for over 60 minutes. They deserved to win,” explained captain Patrick Hager. “That wasn’t good enough,” complained Berlin striker Lean Bergmann.
After just 14 seconds, the game was interrupted for around an hour in front of 4,200 spectators. Due to various holes in the ice, the players had to leave the ice for a long time. After the unplanned break, the district team had difficulty getting into the match.
It was not without reason that the Slovaks took the lead after 17 minutes through Samuel Takac. Germany goalkeeper Dustin Strahlmeier from the Grizzlys Wolfsburg looked extremely unhappy when he couldn’t get the puck under control during an attempt to clear it.
There were whistles from the Landshut audience at the beginning of the second section. Because the ice was again holey in some places, the second third began almost ten minutes late.
Much to the delight of the supporters, Germany began with a small offensive fireworks display, but failed again and again due to the strong Slovakian keeper Matej Tomek. On the other side, the Slovaks of veteran coach Craig Ramsey (73) scored for the second time through Marek Korencik (25th).
Schinko ensures connection
As in the 5:6 at the start against Denmark, the opponent proved to be accurate in front of the German goal. At least Wolfsburg’s striker Luis Schinko was able to reduce the score to 1:2 (28′).
Even though numerous top performers such as Frederik Tiffels, Jonas Müller, Kai Wissmann and Leo Pföderl from champions and DEL leaders Eisbären Berlin were missing, the district team remained far too vulnerable on the defensive. Martin Fasko-Rudas (45th), Milos Roman (54th) and Michal Ivan (56th) increased the score to 5:1 for the guests. Daniel Schmölz reduced the score to 2:5 (57′) before Takac marked the final score (60′).
Source: www.sport.de
