Ok, before I give my thoughts on the tournament as a whole, a few quick thoughts on the final game vs. Switzerland.
This was by far our best game of the tournament. Against Czechia and the US only the top line, and on some rare instances the second line, managed to create a little bit of offense here and there. Against Switzerland every single line looked like they might be able to create something offensively.
This was probably helped, by the circumstance that it was the 4th game in 4 days on an extremely short rest between games 3 (Saturday evening) and 4 (Sunday morning).
It was a solid effort throughout, but the first goal by Max Penkin, after a nice transition passing play from Krestan to Permitin to Penkin, stood out. To me Penkin was at times not only the best player on the German team, but the best player on the ice.
Now for the tournament as a whole (minus the game against Slovakia which I did not see). For the skaters I’ll go pair-by-pair and line-by-line (average ice time for each player in parentheses):
Goalies:
I’ll keep it short, since goalies are difficult to judge for me, especially on streams with a single camera angle and no replays. At this point I don’t any goalie has really separated themselves and I don’t think the goalie position will be a position of strength for this group.
Defence:
Daniel Kettler (24:33) – Darian Rolsing (23:07):
Clearly the top pairing for the team. They complement each other pretty well, with Kettler being the more responsible defense first player, while Rolsing played a more offensively minded and risky game. They made their mistakes (especially Rolsing) as most dmen do, when they play big minutes. And these two played in all situations and did about as well as you can expect when you are clearly outmatched every game.
Martin Mayer (17:02) – Jan-Luca Augst (17:25):
They were very consistent throughout the games I saw. Nothing spectacular but mostly solid. Probably the pair with the fewest mistakes. They didn’t generate offensively, but every now and then you could see there is some potential there, but maybe not against this kind of competition. If Augst was a bit bigger I’d like him a lot more as a prospect, but his lack of size will probably hold him back a bit.
Jonas Hördler (10:39) / Tobias Fischer (09:01) – Luis Gerhofer (14:58)
This trio of defensemen was really struggling against the US team and the Czechs. They did significantly better against Switzerland, but overall, I did not like what I saw from them. As I said before I don’t like to be too negative about these kids, so I’ll just say I hope this ends up being great learning experience for them and they will do better in the future.
Forwards:
Tobias Křestan (17:11) – Max Penkin (16:50) – Vyacheslav Permitin (15:56)
They were our best line by some margin and it was mostly driven by Max Penkin. And when it wasn’t Penkin then it was Křestan. Permitin played a quieter game, doing some of the dirty work, so his more skilled linemates could shine. The chemistry on this line improved from game to game as did their confidence, which was nice to see considering that the results were not exactly encouraging. Based on the 3 games I watched Penkin was our best forward and if he keeps this up, I definitely want to see him on the U18 team in April. He is that good.
Jakub Kottner (11:57) – Mats Geppert (15:54) – Toni Fürst (14:22)
While there was a clear gap between the play of the first and the second line, the gap was much smaller if you just look at Mats Geppert, who was clearly the third best forward on the team, and not that far off the top2. This line did pretty well overall, and Geppert was the one driving the play on this line all the time. Kottner also had his moments and was rewarded with the flukiest of goals against Switzerland. Fürst kind of always felt like coming up just short, no matter what he tried and no matter how much effort he put into it. Watching him in these games, I think there is a lot more there than he was able to show. And it’s not like he was bad it really looked like he was unlucky more than anything else.
Maximilian Strauss (09:57) – Leon Lell (12:16) – Luis Becker (09:51)
Jason Struck (11:24) – Florian Schloßnikel (12:16) – Andreas Kuhn (13:04)
Simon Röckl (11:03)
There wasn’t really a clear cut third and fourth line, and there was some shuffling going on with these players, so I’ll group them all together. Most of them did not really have much of an impact and are sort of a testament to the lack of depth of this group compared to the 07s.
I mean every one of them showed some skill here and there, and against Switzerland they were not bad, but the only one of them I noticed in a positive way in all 3 games I watched, was Schloßnikel.
To finish up my updated top 3 for the tournament:
1) Max Penkin:
On one hand it’s great that our best player was an underager, but it also a bit of an indictment on the 08 class. However, while the 08s are somewhat lacking overall, Křestan is still a good player, and Penkin outperforming him, even only slightly, is still very impressive. This was the first time I really got a good look at his skating and it was pretty good. I wouldn’t necessarily call it a strength just yet, but I was a bit worried it might hold him back, and am less worried now. I still think his hockey iq and creativity are his strongest assets, but there are really not many obvious holes in his game. He is just a really well-rounded prospect, which is unusual at his age.
2) Tobias Křestan:
Watching him in this tournament I kept thinking if he was a bit stronger and a bit more explosive, he would be really special. His vision and passing ability are definitely standing out in a good way, but he needs to up the intensity a bit if you ask me, if he wants to succeed against elite competition. I would not mind Křestan and Penkin to keep playing together and develop more chemistry. I really think they make each other better and they might be able to tilt the ice in our favor against many opponents.
3) Mats Geppert:
It was relly close for me between Geppert and Rolsing. While Rolsing had the best game between the two of them (against the US), Geppert was more consistent throughout the tournament, which is I’m giving him the number 3 spot over Rolsing. Geppert gave great effort every single shift and was mostly responsible defensively, something pretty much every other forward was struggling with in most of the games. On top of that he also showed more skill than any forward not named Penkin or Křestan. If I he was able to process the game just a bit faster and maybe get a bit bigger and stronger, he could take his game to a higher level.
HM) Darian Rolsing:
Rolsing made a few mistakes too many to stay in the top 3. If he can actually limit those mistakes without sacrificing his offensive abilities, he will turn into a really exciting prospect.
One thing I noticed with him on the penalty kill, that I found very encouraging was his ability to tie up the stick of the opposing forward that was looking for a deflection in front of the goal.
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