Group victory as a small coup
Ice hockey women surprise Sweden at the World Cup
April 8, 2024, 9:32 p.m
The German ice hockey women avoid an early clash with the top favorites at the World Cup in the USA. At the end of Group B we face China. Goalkeeper Sandra Abstreiter delivers an extremely strong performance.
The German ice hockey women surprisingly defeated Sweden at the World Cup and won the group. In the third game, national coach Jeff MacLeod’s team beat the medal contenders from Scandinavia 1-0 (0-0, 0-0, 1-0) in Utica and are in first place with nine points. The conclusion of Group B will be against newly promoted China on Tuesday (5 p.m. at MagentaSport).
Sweden had more chances in the first two thirds and also had significantly more shots on goal. But the German goalkeeper Sandra Abstreiter was there again and again. She parried all 32 shots from the Scandinavians. On the other side, Franziska Feldmeier scored the only goal of the game after 49 minutes. In a turbulent final phase, Abstreiter saved the victory with several brilliant saves. The only German from the North American professional league was also voted best player.
“The team spirit was really good, especially in the last minutes of the game,” Abstreiter praised her colleagues: “There were almost no shots that got through because the girls blocked everything. That was really another very good team success. Of course we want to Now go out of the preliminary round undefeated and win against the Chinese.” The coach praised: “We showed what we can do. We had small problems at the beginning. But we performed better and better as a team. The decisive factor was the character of our team.
As the winner of Group B, Germany will face the third team from Season A in the quarterfinals and thus avoid the favorites USA (world champions) and Canada (Olympic champions).