Almost a week before the start of the Ice Hockey World Championship in the Czech Republic, the runner-up is not yet in World Cup shape. A weak second third decides the match.
The German national ice hockey team is not yet in World Cup shape just a week before the start. Despite the NHL reinforcements JJ Peterka, Nico Sturm and goalkeeper Philipp Grubauer, the runner-up world champion lost 3:5 (3:1, 0:3, 0:1) against the French selection in Wolfsburg after a 3:0 lead. It was the fifth defeat in the seventh preparation game.
Next Friday (4:20 p.m./ProSieben) the World Cup begins for national coach Harold Kreis’s team in Ostrava, Czech Republic, with the game against Slovakia.
The qualities of the North American professionals quickly became apparent in front of 4,503 spectators. With the advantage, Peterka from the Buffalo Sabers skilfully prepared Dominik Kahun’s opening goal. The SC Bern striker shot the DEB team into the lead with a well-placed shot after six minutes. Parker Tuomie (18th), who will move from Straubing to Cologne, and Munich’s Maxi Kastner just 14 seconds later increased the score to 3-0 for a strong DEB selection. France’s Hugo Gallet reduced the score to 1:3 shortly before the first third break (20′).
France coldly exploits German defensive weaknesses
Kreis replaced goalkeeper Grubauer from the Seattle Kraken with Mathias Niederberger in the middle of the second half. After a few minutes on the ice, the Munich player conceded the 2:3 to France’s Enzo Guebey (32′). The guests continued to make cold use of the district team’s defensive weaknesses: Lucien Onno (38th) and Stéphane Da Costa (39th) finally turned the match around for Germany’s last World Cup group opponent. Shortly before the end, Anthony Rech made the final score 3:5 (60th).
At the end of the test match phase, the district team will meet France again on Monday (7.30 p.m./MagentaSport) in Weißwasser. Then the five Berlin ice hockey champions Frederik Tiffels, Tobias Eder, Jonas Müller, Kai Wissmann and Leonhard Pföderl will also be there. A day later the national team will travel to Ostrava.
Source: Stern
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