Germany Beats Canada 7-2 and Becomes the Last Quarterfinalist – 05.12.2018

The last game of the day presented a clash between Germany and Canada. After a bad start by the Germans, Canada opened the score. It was a big warning for the German team that changed further course of the game. Canada built a strong defensive wall that allowed just two goals in the first period. But as time passed, Germany found a way through and eventually triumphed.

Already in the first minute of play, the fans witnessed a surprising moment. Viitakoski had a lot of free space in front of himself, so he waited and waited and finally fired one in. This made the Germans realize that the match wouldn’t be a piece of cake as they may had imagined. Six and a half minutes later, Max Blanke tied the game at 1-1. After a few Canadian chances that were denied by Hallerstede’s good saves, the Germans finally turned the score around as Schuschwary found the net with a great deal of luck.

In the second period, the game unwound similarly to the first part. The Germans controlled the ball on their sticks, but were finding it hard to score. Phillip Weigelt changed this halfway through the period and less than a minute later Max Blanke scored his second of the day to make it 4-1. And it didn’t take long before Germany increased the gap to four goals – Tino von Pritzbuer was at the right time in the right place and tipped in a loose ball into the net. Canada had the last say in the second period in the 38th minute, when Brandon Barber put his name on the scoresheet after Valtteri Viitakoski’s pass in the power-play.

Early in the third period Canada had a chance to reduce the gap even more after two Germans were penalized within one minute. But the Canadians couldn’t capitalize on the two-man advantage as all their attempts were denied by Hallerstede. On the other hand, Germany scored just thirty seconds after killing these two penalties. And when two Canadians were awarded penalties late in the match, the Germans converted their two-man advantage and set the final score at 7-2.