The national ice hockey team is about to defend its title at the Deutschland Cup. In the second game, the inexperienced Söderholm selection convinces against Austria. This time there were more spectators. One point is enough against the Olympic bronze medalist Slovakia.
Second game, second win: The German ice hockey talents have recommended themselves for further tasks and are about to triumph again in the Deutschland Cup. The largely inexperienced selection of national coach Toni Söderholm also defeated Austria 3-0 (2-0, 1-0, 0-0) at the home tournament in Krefeld on Saturday. To win the Germany Cup for the ninth time, the German Ice Hockey Federation (DEB) team needs a point on Sunday (2:30 p.m. / MagentaSport) to finish against Slovakia, who came third in the Olympics.
In front of 3310 spectators on Saturday, Andreas Eder (6th minute) from Red Bull Munich, his brother Tobias Eder (18th) from Düsseldorfer EG and Danjo Leonhardt (29th) from the Nuremberg Ice Tigers were successful. At the start on Thursday, Germany won 3-2 after extra time against Denmark. In the prestige duel against Austria, it was much more atmospheric than on Thursday, when fewer than 1000 spectators came into the hall. The arena was not fully occupied on Saturday either, but as previously announced by the DEB, there were significantly more people there, who also created a good atmosphere.
The young German selection also did a lot for it. The game against the neighboring country, which is taking part in the traditional four-nation tournament for the first time, was much more intense. Germany also set the tone from the start and took the lead through Andreas Eder after a wonderful attack and a nice pass from captain Marc Michaelis (Langnau/Switzerland). Söderholm had an even more inexperienced selection than on Thursday on the ice. On Saturday, the national coach did without the internationally experienced national team returnees Dominik Bokk (Frankfurt) and Maximilian Kammerer (Cologne).
The most experienced player in the squad had already left before the game. The 32-year-old defender Marco Nowak from champions Eisbären Berlin is ill and was therefore already absent against Denmark. Instead, his club-mate Eric Mik made his national team debut. Janik Möser from the Grizzlys Wolfsburg was also injured in the game on Saturday and will also not be able to play again. In Krefeld, Söderholm primarily wants to test possible squad alternatives for the World Cup next May in Finland and Latvia. He had therefore renounced a number of regular employees this year.
And the German C selection operated properly self-promotion. Even after Thursday’s two-time goal scorer, Nuremberg’s Daniel Schmölz, was not allowed to continue playing after a scuffle like his opponent David Maier, Germany kept up the pace and was rewarded with another nice combination in the majority before the break in the first third. This time Tobi Eder met another pass from Michaelis. When it came to fighting, the DEB team was also convincing and continued to be aggressive. Leonhardt made the preliminary decision in the middle section. Austria tried in vain to get back into the game against the convincing German team.
