Krefeld (dpa) – The German ice hockey selection C trembled over an opening victory at the German Cup in Krefeld. The inexperienced selection of national team manager Toni Söderholm won 3: 2 (1: 1, 1: 1, 0: 0) after extra time against Denmark.
Daniel Schmölz scored the decisive goal in the fourth minute of added time. The man from Nuremberg had already scored in regulation time together with Marc Michaelis of the Swiss SCL Langnau. Anders Koch of Aalborg Pirates and Nicolai Meyer of Red Bull Salzburg were successful for Denmark.
The scenery of Krefeld’s Yayla Arena was disappointing. Only around 800 spectators wanted to see the opening match of the German talents. Söderholm had deliberately given up a number of regular employees. Surprisingly, the already very inexperienced squad was missing Marco Nowak of Eisbären Berlin, the most experienced player in the squad, which included ten German Cup rookies and three international rookies.
Talents and returnees at the center
The focus of the national team coach in Krefeld is more on talents or returnees such as Frankfurt’s Dominik Bokk and Cologne’s Maximilian Kammerer, who after their recent good performances in the German Ice Hockey League have had another chance ahead of the World Cup. Tampere next May. Even then, Germany meet Denmark again in the preliminary round.
The anticipation was particularly high for the exceptionally talented Bokk, who despite his contract with the Carolina Hurricanes is still awaiting his NHL debut. The 22-year-old, who is currently DEL’s third top scorer as a loaner from Löwen Frankfurt, did not initially promote himself like many others. Since there was little from the Danes coached by former DEL player Heinz Ehlers, the background suited the manageable level on the ice. In terms of speed and intensity, a lot was still missing.
Germany has the opportunity to improve on Saturday (17: 30 / Sport1 and MagentaSport) against Austria and on Sunday (14: 30 / MagentaSport) against Slovakia, third in the Olympics.
The German lead was helped by a setback: Danish defender Koch deflected a Michaelis shot into his own net, but soon compensated by equalizing with a splendid shot from the blue line in the corner of the posts. Grizzlys Wolfsburg goalkeeper Dustin Strahlmeier was blocked from view.
Weak level in the last third
In the middle section, the German selection started with problems and only became significantly more dominant after the 1: 2, which fell in the last second of a manpower match. The reward for the strongest phase of the match up to that point was the well-deserved draw of the Nuremberg Schmölz. Meanwhile, Söderholm’s side failed to score more goals.
The few spectators then saw only cramps. In the final section, the level dropped to a minimum. Opportunities just happened by chance.
