Catching up is rewarded with a point
Created: 08/29/2022, 10:00 am
By: Wolfgang Krzizok
No chance to defend: Germany goalkeeper Sandra Abstreiter has to let the puck deflected by Anna Kjellbin pass to make it 3-0 for Sweden.
Defender Marie Delarbre (left) can no longer intervene either.
Now we are aware of what we can and what we are capable of.
Franzi Feldmeier after the energy performance against Sweden © IIHF
The German ice hockey women didn't know on Saturday evening whether they should be happy or sad.
Frederikshavn/Erding – In the World Cup group match in Frederikshavn, Denmark, the DEB team had made up a 3-0 deficit against Sweden in the last eight minutes, only to lose in a penalty shoot-out.
This time Sandra Abstreiter stood in the German goal, Franzi Albl sat on the bench.
"It was a lot of fun - it was really cool," enthuses the 24-year-old, who put in a great performance.
"The Swedes shot a lot, but I think we did a good job, cleaned up well in front of the goal and hardly allowed any follow-up shots," emphasized Abkampfer.
It was 0-0 after the first third.
Then the Swedes pulled away 2-0 in the second period.
After 47 minutes it was even 0:3, which according to the keeper "was really unfortunate".
"The Swedes put a lot of pressure on the first two thirds, but we held up well physically and technically and also had our chances," says Bernadette Karpf, which is confirmed by her fellow striker Franzi Feldmeier: "We played really well and only shortly after the 0 :2 slacked off a bit.”
The game seemed to be over after the 0:3, but then the women started to catch up and equalized with three overtime goals from Nina Christof (53rd), Nikola Eisenschmid (57th) and Tanja Eisenschmid - 42 seconds before the end - to 3:3 .
"Nobody would have thought that we would score three more goals, but we just kept playing," says Abkampfer.
"The 1:3 was very important, so we turned the tables and drew new energy," says Karpf.
"We used our chances to play with the majority and played a really good power play, although the penalty against the Swedes played into our hands." Four minutes before the end, Lina Ljungblom had to go into the dressing room after a nasty check.
"We showed what we can do and what potential we have," states Karpf,
who has special praise for the keeper: "Sandra was really strong and a good support." Abstreiter also proved this in extra time, when she defused a solo effort shortly before the end.
In the penalty shoot-out, however, the Swedish team was more callous and got the extra point.
For Tabea Botthof, winning the point "almost felt like a victory for the team".
For the defender, the Sweden game was "a huge step in the right direction".
The DEB team "played at a high level, just like against Hungary".
After the 0:3 "we were probably already written off, but we didn't let ourselves be disturbed, which was a huge difference to the Hungary game".
As is well known, after failing to qualify for the Olympics, there was a change in the team.
"We had to find each other first, but this game helped a lot," believes the defender.
"Now we are aware of what we can do and what we are capable of." Feldmeier sees it similarly.
“The point was extremely important.
Nobody would have thought that we would still catch up - we have shown character",
the 23-year-old is happy.
"We took quite a lot from this game."
After yesterday's rest day with only one easy training session, today at 3.30 p.m. we face the Czech Republic.
This team was beaten in preparation, so there is confidence in the DEB team.
"You could say we only have one point, but there are still six points left and we want to get three against the Czech Republic," said Botthof confidently.