The German national team narrowly lost out in their first game at the 2023 Junior World Championships in Canada. In Group A they lost 1-0 to Sweden following a sacrificial battle at the Scotiabank Center in Halifax. In the following game, Austria experienced another debacle in this tournament in a 9-0 loss to the Czech Republic. In Group B at the Avenir Center in Moncton, Finland first beat Slovakia 5-2. Switzerland then won 3-2 pts once morest Latvia.
Germany 0-1 Sweden (0-1/0-0/0-0)
The German national team narrowly lost out in their first game at the 2023 Junior World Championships in Canada. In Group A they lost 1-0 to Sweden following a sacrificial battle at the Scotiabank Center in Halifax. In the following game, Austria experienced another debacle in this tournament in a 9-0 loss to the Czech Republic. In Group B at the Avenir Center in Moncton, Finland first beat Slovakia 5-2. Switzerland then won 3-2 pts once morest Latvia.
The DEB juniors defied the Swedes over long stretches. With a bit of luck in the end, they might have caused a surprise. The only goal of the encounter came from Adam Engstrom in the final minute of the first period. His deflected shot slipped through the pads of the otherwise excellent goalkeeper Nikita Quapp to make it 0:1.
Before the Swedes conceded, the Germans had good chances through Julian Lutz, Nikolaus Heigl and Veit Oswald. But they found their match in Sweden’s goalie Carl Lindbom.
In the second round, the Scandinavians shifted up a few gears and made the German team’s defense work up a sweat. But the defense withstood the pressure. This was not least due to the fact that Quapp surpassed himself during this phase. Among other things, he stopped a slap shot by Liam Ohgren and a penalty shot by Fabian Lysell. Even when the Swedes were briefly 5-on-3 outnumbered, the German keeper proved to be a tower in the battle. At the end of the game he had 43 saves and a catch rate of 97.7 percent.
In the third period, the protégés of national coach Tobias Abstreiter managed to shift the game back into the opposing zone. Philipp Bidoul and Robin van Calster had the best chances to score for Germany. However, Lindbom was on the post both times and prevented the equalizer.
“The team implemented the things we set out to do very well,” summed up a satisfied contestant. “We gave ourselves a chance to win the game once morest Sweden in the opening game. It was a very close game and in the end we had the momentum, as the saying goes, on our side. Unfortunately, we mightn’t thank ourselves for the self-sacrificing effort and not rewarding the passion that we brought. But I think we can build on that for the next games.”
Switzerland – Latvia 3:2 SO (1:1/0:1/1:0/0:0/1:0)
Second World Cup game, second win in the extra shift: the Swiss juniors are well on the way to the quarter-finals following beating the Latvians 3-2 following penalties. However, a lot of hard work was necessary before success was certain.
The Swiss took a 1-0 lead through Louis Robin (9th). But the Latvians were unimpressed and turned the match around until the second break. Dans Lomelis (14th) and Darels Dukurs (38th) shot out the 2:1 advantage. In the final section, the Swiss threw everything forward to at least equalize in regular time. At times the Latvians had great difficulty breaking free from the grip. But their defensive bulwark lasted a long time. In the final phase, Switzerland was rewarded for their tireless approach. Rodwin Dionicio scored the acclaimed goal to make it 2-2 (59th).
The two opponents did not score in extra time, so the decision had to be made in a penalty shootout. Switzerland had the better end for itself. Attilio Biasco and Liekit Reichle converted their solo runs while only Lomelis was successful on the other side.
Austria – Czech Republic 0:9 (0:3/0:4/0:2)
The Austrian team had little to oppose the Czechs and was just able to prevent a double-digit defeat, which would have been the second at the start of the World Cup. The 29th attempt by an Austrian junior squad to win a World Cup game in the top group also failed.
The Czech Republic’s outstanding attacker was Jiri Kulich, who scored a hat-trick. Gabriel Szturc was hardly inferior to him with a brace. The remaining goals went to Jakub Brabenec, Petr Hauser, Ales Czech and David Spacek. Matyas Sapovaliv shone with four assists. The goal shot ratio of 47:8 shows the superiority of the winner.
Austria’s attacker Vinzenz Rohrer sees the mental attitude as the main reason for the two bankruptcies once morest the Czech Republic and Sweden (0:11). “It’s definitely a mental thing. We can’t be so scared and just focused on our opponents,” he said.
Finland 5-2 Slovakia (1-1/3-0/1-1)
The end result deceives a bit regarding the course of the game. Except for the second third, the Slovaks were able to balance the game once morest the favored Finns. The goal shot ratio of 24:23 following 60 minutes in favor of Slovakia is also evidence of this. But the team from Finland presented themselves more determined and accurate.
Above all, captain Oliver Kapanen and Joakim Kemell acted much more obligingly on the offensive this time than in the unexpected defeat in the opening match once morest Switzerland (2:3 aet). Both attackers entered the score sheet with a goal and an assist. Sami Paivarinta, Jani Nyman and Brad Lambert were responsible for the other goals for the Finns. Peter Repcik put together a brace for the Slovaks.
Both starting goalkeepers made their debuts at the Junior World Cup. Jani Lampinen’s goal in the Finnish box was significantly more successful than Patrik Andrisik’s on the other side. The Slovakian goalkeeper had to give up eleven shots following conceding the fourth goal in the second period. He was replaced by Matej Marinov, who later only allowed one goal.
