Tournament premiere was a success
“Great feeling” – Miller and Abstreiter make the DEB team cheer
November 8, 2023, 10:14 p.m
A goal from replacement Jennifer Miller was enough for the German ice hockey women in their narrow win against Denmark. Goalkeeper Sandra Abstreiter excelled with numerous outstanding saves. The goalscorer is completely over the moon after the game.
The German women’s ice hockey team made a successful start to the nations tournament in Landshut. In the competition, which was held together with the men’s Germany Cup for the first time, national coach Jeff MacLeod’s team won 1-0 (0-0, 1-0, 0-0) against Denmark. Jennifer Miller scored the winning goal in the 29th minute in front of 1,028 spectators. On Friday (7 p.m. at Magentasport) the second match is against Finland, which lost 2:4 to the Czech Republic, third in the World Cup.
For a long time, the Danes repeatedly despaired of the German goalkeeper Sandra Abstreiter. The 25-year-old was the first German to be selected by Ottawa in the women’s draft for the newly founded Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) in North America in September. In January 2024, six teams, the so-called Original Six from Boston, New York and Minnesota (USA) as well as Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal (Canada) will compete in the PWHL.
Abstreiter is currently playing for the ECDC Memmingen Indians. With eight other players, the club from Bavaria represents the largest block in national coach MacLeod’s squad. However, striker Miller from Mad Dogs Mannheim was responsible for the goal. The 25-year-old gave Denmark’s goalkeeper Caroline Thomsen no chance to defend. Miller was only nominated for Lisa Heinz on Monday. “It’s a great feeling” to be the first German female goalscorer in a Germany Cup, Miller told MagentaSport: “I’m super happy.” 90 seconds before the end, the A-WM promoted team took the keeper out of the goal, but the DEB selection still managed to achieve their narrow success without any problems.
There will be a repeat of the game against Denmark next year on April 4th at the World Cup in the USA. Then both teams meet in Group B in Utica, New York. National coach Harold Kreis’ men’s national team starts the tournament against Denmark on Thursday (7.45 p.m. at Magentasport). Austria and Slovakia are the other opponents for the vice world champion.