One surprise does not wait for the other at the IIHF World Championship! Germany joined Canada in the final by defeating the United States 4-3 in overtime on Saturday at Nokia Arena.
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Frederik Tiffels scored the biggest goal of his career after 7:32. play in overtime. He stripped down Montreal Canadiens gem Lane Hutson, then his hard shot gave Casey DeSmith no chance.
The Germans will therefore participate in the IIHF World Final for the first time in their history.
“We knew we only needed one shot,” forward Maximilian Kastner said after the duel, according to the IIHF website. I believe we got it. It’s a golden goal. We are so happy to have won. It’s an incredible moment.
“I’m running out of qualifiers. I’m just really proud.”
Hutson, meanwhile, was cleared of the scoresheet. He was particularly dangerous in extra time before the winning goal, but his attempts were all stifled.
Tough Germans
With 1 min 33 s. to run out in regulation time, Marcel Noebels forced extra time. Goalkeeper Mathias Niederberger was on the bench in favor of a sixth skater and the Germans applied sustained pressure around DeSmith’s goal. Their tenacity paid off when Noebels jumped on a throw return.
Speaking of tenacity, the Germans showed their strength of character despite a tough start to the game.
Alex Tuch only needed 71 seconds to open the scoring. The Buffalo Sabers forward received a perfect pass from Drew O’Connor and didn’t miss his chance.
Small forward Rocco Grimaldi added minutes later with a hard slap shot.
Before the end of the first period, however, the Germans tied the game thanks to Daniel Fischbuch’s power play goal and Maksymilian Szuber’s effort.
According to Hutson, the Americans deviated from their game plan during this streak.
“I don’t think we’re relaxing at this point, but we let our style of play go for two minutes,” he said. We got a few penalties and it was hard to score after that.”
A loss that hurts
Michael Eyssimont had restored the lead to the Americans in the second period.
The United States and Latvia will therefore fight for the bronze medal on Sunday.
“This loss hurts, admitted DeSmith, author of 22 saves. I think we had a great tournament, but we lost our lead late in the game.
“We didn’t come here to win a bronze medal, but it’s still a great honour. There are several good teams here.”