Second victory in the second game: The German national ice hockey team has their third triumph in a row at the Germany Cup in sight. With only two runners-up from Tampere, national coach Harold Kreis’ team defeated Austria 5:3 (0:1, 1:1, 4:1) after being 2-0 down.
Without numerous stars, one point on Sunday (11/12/23, 2:30 p.m.) against Slovakia would be enough for the German Ice Hockey Association (DEB) to win their tenth title at their home tournament.
Swiss professional Marc Michaelis (32nd/44th), Munich’s Filip Varejcka (45th) and Yasin Ehliz (47th) and Schwenningen’s Daniel Pfaffengut (60th) turned the game around with their goals in front of 4,200 spectators in Landshut. Benjamin Baumgartner (10th/28th) gave the Austrians, who had lost 7-1 at the start against the Slovaks, a 2-0 lead and shortened the lead in the final phase (53rd).
Regular staff spared
“It took us a while to get into the game”said Ehliz at “MagentaSport”, “We had to work hard for 60 minutes. In the end we were rewarded. Overall it was a great team performance.”
As announced, after the convincing 4-1 win against Denmark, Kreis did without regular players like Tobias Rieder and Leo Pföderl; Düsseldorf debutants Josef Eham and Luis Üffing came into the team to replace them. Goalkeeper Leon Hungerecker also made his first international appearance. At 0-1, Nuremberg was surprised from a tight angle.
Ehliz captain for the first time
For the first time with Olympic silver hero Ehliz as captain, the young DEB selection had a hard time against the disciplined, defending Austrians; top-class chances were rare for two thirds. But in the final section the individual strength of the Germans prevailed.