Germany and USA ready for a "real" Deutschland Cup final

Deutschland Cup - Day 2

Germany - Slovakia 2-0 (1-0, 1-0, 0-0)

With a 2-0 win against tournament favourites Slovakia the German national team kept their chances alive to win their 4th Deutschland Cup title within 5 years after 2009, 2010 and 2012.

Germany switched the starting goalies before the game. This time Dennis Endras (Adler Mannheim, DEL) stood between the posts instead of Danny aus den Birken (Kölner Haie, also DEL) who started during the shootout loss against Switzerland on Friday. In front of ca 6,000 fans in the Olypiahalle München it was Michael Wolf (6th) who opened the scoring early for a German team that missed around 15 DEL players who are candidates to make the 2014 WC roster in Minsk. The joy about his goal didn't last too long though for Wolf as he received a match penalty after hitting Milan Bartovic in the face with his stick. The following five minute power play didn't give the Slovakians the wished goal and Germany continued to concentrate on defense. When the last defender was beaten there was still a strong Endras in the net who in the end was able to celebrate a shutout. With one of their attacks the Germans missed their second goal when Patrick Hager hit the post at the end of the first period. With his first ever national team goal in his second game Daryl Boyle from DEL's Augsburger Panther made everything clear for the Germans (37th). In the last 20 minutes a Slovakian comeback was feared but more than a few dangerous shots on goal wasn't the result.

Switzerland - USA 4-5 (2-1, 1-1, 1-3)

The second game of the day saw a goal festival between vice world champions Switzerland and underdogs USA with the better end for the Americans. Jeremy Dehner scored the early lead for Team USA (11th) but Juraj Simek (17th) and Julien Sprunger (19th) turned the match around completely even before the first intermission. Both goals were a result of mistakes by a weak American goalie Jeff Frazee who plays for Valpellice in Italy. As a consequence the Americans changed their goalies already after 20 minutes and Ryan Zapolski took over the spot of Frazee. After the break though the Swiss continued where they stopped and Reto Schäppi added another goal (24th) in power play. Tim Stapleton (26th) - the KHL star of this second class American roster - kept his team in play shortly afterwards after the stick of Dino Wieser broke during the attempt to stop a pass.

With his second strike of the evening Juraj Simek (45th) restored the two goal lead for Switzerland. When only highly optimistic American fans believed in a positive result for their team the USA made a brilliant comeback with goals by Clay Wilson (48th), again Tim Stapleton (54th) and Steve Moses (59th) to decide the match in regulation. EHC Biel's goalie Lukas Melli who gave his debut in the Swiss dress made a rather nervous impression.  

Deutschland Cup Standings:

 #    Team Name    P    W    WOT    LOT    L    F    A    GD    Pts
1    Germany    2    1    0    1    0    4    3    1    4
2    USA     2    1    0    1    0    8    8    0    4
3    Switzerland    2    0    1    0    1    7    7    0    2
4    Slovakia     2    0    1    0    1    4    5    -1    2

As you can see from the standings above the group match between Germany and USA tomorrow afternoon will be a real final as the winner gets this year's Deutschland Cup title. Switzerland and Slovakia can only reach the second place at best.

13.15 CET Slovakia - Switzerland
16.15 CET USA - Germany

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