WC U18: German’s Marvin Cüpper shines against strong teams

No matter what, Germans are still playing like a good constructed machine. Even when they are losing 0:3, the game is not lost to them. That’s why
they were able to catch up with Russia and reached one important point.

The Russians had the first period under control. Roman Konkov scored twice and Maxim Shalunov added a third goal from a penalty shot. Everything looked great for them. But Germany stroke back in the second period. After three power-play goals the score was tied. "It was a great game with great atmosphere. We started bad but we hit back," said German goalie Marvin Cüpper after the game.

In third period he didn’t catch Anton Savaliev’s power-play shot but his team-mate Lars Grozinger tied the score again in less than a minute. As in overtime we haven’t seen any goal, the game winning shots had to be done. Nikita Kucherov became the Russian hero of the night. "We were really close to win but unfortunately we lost at the end," added Cüpper sadly. However, they are happy that they reached this one point, because they didn’t expect it.

Day four will be another free-day for the team which Crimmitschau support the most. After that they will play against Slovakia. "We hope that we will win next time. We have great chance to win and reach the quarterfinal," continued Cüpper. Is the quarterfinal attendance team’s ambition for this tournament? "First of all we want to reach the final round and then we will see."

In the team of Germany there is only one player who scored two goals – young prospect Tobias Rieder, who did not finish the game with the team this time. They are working together as a team. "We don’t count on a special person. We count on a team and the defence," said the young goalie who stopped 46 out of 51 Russians shots. This is his first appearance at the championship ever. "It’s really great, I can’t feel any better. This is what I have worked for my whole career."

 

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