The German ice hockey juniors got off to a false start at the U20 World Cup.
The team of national coach Tobias Abstreiter suffered its second defeat in the second game with a 4-1 defeat against Slovakia. At the start there was an expected 3-6 against hosts and defending champions USA. The German U20 is already under pressure.
Against Slovakia with hat-trick Tomas Chrenko (11th, 20th, 34th), mistakes were punished directly. The German team conceded two goals when they were outnumbered, and Adam Belusko (60th) was successful late on when the German goalkeeper Linus Vieillard had already gone off the ice for a sixth field player. Dustin Willhöft (52nd), who plays for the Saskatoon Blades in Canada, scored the 1:3 for Germany.
Numerous scouts from the North American professional league NHL are taking part in the tournament in the US state of Minnesota; Germany is only playing to stay in the top division. This was achieved in the last two years in dramatic decisive games.
The best four teams in the two tournament groups qualify for the quarterfinals. The bottom two in the table play in a relegation game to stay in the league. Sweden (Monday, 7 p.m.) and Switzerland (Tuesday, 8 p.m./all MagentaSport) await in the other group games.