International: German Junior National Teams

[KerbanHockey]

As I'm watching the last period of the U18 game against Slovakia, I'll try to share my thoughts on yesterday’s game as far as I can remember (I only watched the 2nd and 3rd periods) and my thoughts on today’s game.

Result of yesterday’s game: Slovakia - Germany 5-2​

In the end, Germany beat themselves by making three major mistakes that led to goals.

The first one was a bad line change that led to a breakaway (2-1). The second one was a weak goal conceded by our goalie Oswald (4-2), and the third one was a bad pass from Penkin that resulted in a two-on-one situation.

Based on the second and third periods alone, Germany’s game was quite solid and more or less evenly matched. In my opinion, the best players were the entire Kose-Schneider-Schäfer line, Willhöft, and Penkin.

Especially Penkin stood out at times—he really has huge potential. However, he also made a couple of bad passes and poor decisions, but that’s completely normal for a 15-year-old.

Overall, the most noticeable player was Willhöft. There was no one on the ice who could catch up to him, especially in terms of skating.

Defense was the weak spot, with only Rolsing and, at times, Kose (mostly offensively) showing strong performances.

I'm by no means an expert on goalies, but I didn’t really like Oswald’s overall performance.

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Result of today’s game: Slovakia - Germany 5-1​

Germany played two really good periods, but unfortunately, they fell apart in the last one.

Once again, the Kose-Schneider-Schäfer line played well, scoring the only goal, and—once again—Willhöft stood out, earning the "Best Player" award from Team Germany.

To be honest, it was kind of unfortunate. Once again, we were at least on par with the Slovaks—maybe even a little bit better overall. We hit the crossbar with a shot from Späth and the post with one from Willhöft at a time when the game was still really close.

I also have to admit that the referees were pretty bad. I can recall at least four or five clear tripping incidents that were not called.

With Griva not in the lineup, the coach shuffled the lines throughout the game (except for the Kose-Schneider-Schäfer line), which made it difficult for the boys to find their rhythm. Our powerplay also should have been better.

There isn’t much else to say compared to yesterday’s game. Penkin was more or less invisible today, but again, that’s totally normal for a kid playing against mostly 17-year-olds.

 

[Fabianski]

As I'm watching the last period of the U18 game against Slovakia, I'll try to share my thoughts on yesterday’s game as far as I can remember (I only watched the 2nd and 3rd periods) and my thoughts on today’s game.

Result of yesterday’s game: Slovakia - Germany 5-2​

In the end, Germany beat themselves by making three major mistakes that led to goals.

The first one was a bad line change that led to a breakaway (2-1). The second one was a weak goal conceded by our goalie Oswald (4-2), and the third one was a bad pass from Penkin that resulted in a two-on-one situation.

Based on the second and third periods alone, Germany’s game was quite solid and more or less evenly matched. In my opinion, the best players were the entire Kose-Schneider-Schäfer line, Willhöft, and Penkin.

Especially Penkin stood out at times—he really has huge potential. However, he also made a couple of bad passes and poor decisions, but that’s completely normal for a 15-year-old.

Overall, the most noticeable player was Willhöft. There was no one on the ice who could catch up to him, especially in terms of skating.

Defense was the weak spot, with only Rolsing and, at times, Kose (mostly offensively) showing strong performances.

I'm by no means an expert on goalies, but I didn’t really like Oswald’s overall performance.

---

Result of today’s game: Slovakia - Germany 5-1​

Germany played two really good periods, but unfortunately, they fell apart in the last one.

Once again, the Kose-Schneider-Schäfer line played well, scoring the only goal, and—once again—Willhöft stood out, earning the "Best Player" award from Team Germany.

To be honest, it was kind of unfortunate. Once again, we were at least on par with the Slovaks—maybe even a little bit better overall. We hit the crossbar with a shot from Späth and the post with one from Willhöft at a time when the game was still really close.

I also have to admit that the referees were pretty bad. I can recall at least four or five clear tripping incidents that were not called.

With Griva not in the lineup, the coach shuffled the lines throughout the game (except for the Kose-Schneider-Schäfer line), which made it difficult for the boys to find their rhythm. Our powerplay also should have been better.

There isn’t much else to say compared to yesterday’s game. Penkin was more or less invisible today, but again, that’s totally normal for a kid playing against mostly 17-year-olds.

Thanks a lot for your summary. Did you find any game report which includes like the boxscore and the lineup?

 

[KerbanHockey]

Thanks a lot for your summary. Did you find any game report which includes like the boxscore and the lineup?

Yes, here's the link: Súťaže a štatistiky | 2025 U18 Turnaj Vlada Dzurillu | Slovakia U18 vs. Germany U18 | HockeySlovakia.sk - oficiálny web slovenského hokeja

 

[HockeyfanIN]

U18 vs Ukraine after two periods. 0:7. By far the worst performance of a U18 team i saw the last years. They‘re not winning a battle on the boards or somewhere else on the ice. Maybe i‘m blind, but i don’t see any structure on the ice, but way more disappointing are the individual performances. I‘m a bit speechless.

 

[KerbanHockey]

U18 vs Ukraine after two periods. 0:7. By far the worst performance of a U18 team i saw the last years. They‘re not winning a battle on the boards or somewhere else on the ice. Maybe i‘m blind, but i don’t see any structure on the ice, but way more disappointing are the individual performances. I‘m a bit speechless.

Totally agree with you. The only thing we have to acknowledge is that this is the third game in three days. This is the first game for Ukraine, and as far as I know, they didn't have an exhibition game before the tournament. Correct me if I'm wrong. But besides that, I don't have anything else to add to your arguments.

As I'm writing this, it's "only" 3-7. At least they are showing a bit of what they are capable of here in the third. Really nice goal btw from Willhöft to make it 2-7.

 

[Maverick41]

U18 vs Ukraine after two periods. 0:7. By far the worst performance of a U18 team i saw the last years. They‘re not winning a battle on the boards or somewhere else on the ice. Maybe i‘m blind, but i don’t see any structure on the ice, but way more disappointing are the individual performances. I‘m a bit speechless.

Totally agree with you. The only thing we have to acknowledge is that this is the third game in three days. This is the first game for Ukraine, and as far as I know, they didn't have an exhibition game before the tournament. Correct me if I'm wrong. But besides that, I don't have anything else to add to your arguments.

As I'm writing this, it's "only" 3-7. At least they are showing a bit of what they are capable of here in the third. Really nice goal btw from Willhöft to make it 2-7.

I guess I am lucky that I have not been watching this.

I have watched yesterday's game of the U16 team this morning. It was the exhibition game against Norway and they lost 2-3.
Also quite disappointing, although some of it is on the coaching staff in my opinion, but mostly I have to give credit to Norway, they did a really good job disrupting the German offense and were very efficient converting their scoring chances at first (that changes halfway through the game).

Up until Norway scored the game winning goal, our goalie was pretty much unable to make a save. And I don't mean this as a knock against him. The only times Norway really got any shots on goal was when they went in, and I wouldn't fault the goalie Bastian Bauer for a single one. Later he made some nice saves to keep the team in the game, so overall I thought he was one of our better players.

As far as the defense was concerned, they were solid for like 2 periods, except for a small number of stupid mistakes, that ended up in the back of our net. Aside from the goals, they did not allow many chances and they did a decent job moving the puck up ice.
I'm still not liking some of the nominations though. I hope that at least some of the guys I was missing like Hordt and Dietz, were out due to injury or illness, and not because the coaching staff thought all of these guys were better. They are not.

The forwards were a bit of a mess. They kept getting things "almost" done, but partially due to a strong defensive effort from the Norwegians, and partially because of lack of chemistry or lack of accuracy they could not create much except of lots of possession. They always had the puck but no idea what to do with it. Nowhere was that clearer than on the power play, and the had a number of those. I don't think I have seen anything so static in my life. I have seen more movement from statues in the park than from those power play units. And the one player that is constantly moving his feet and chasing down pucks in Daniel Schneider, they don't put on the power play.
I don't know if anyone else here watches the Oilers a lot. They like to pass the puck around a lot and refuse to shoot. Our power play was like that just without or with less passing. Some of the more skilled forwards spent so much time with the puck on their stick looking for a passing lane or shooting lane that just wouldn't materialize because nobody was moving. And when they finally did move, nobody seemed to really no where they should move to what they were supposed to do there. Hopefully they tweak their power play a bit, because they should have the skill. Don't misunderstand my little rant, I still like this group and I think even with Penkin playing a couple years up there is some legit skill on this roster, but in this game everything was just a little bit off. I hope for a better result today, when they play Norway again.

Now I'll watch the U17 again. I already know the result, but I want to see how they played.

 

[Jason80]

Overall mostly disappointing results so far. Especially our U18 seems to be far weaker then expected .Has anyone had the chance to watch the U19 game against the Czechs?

 

[Chapin Landvogt]

Totally agree with you. The only thing we have to acknowledge is that this is the third game in three days. This is the first game for Ukraine, and as far as I know, they didn't have an exhibition game before the tournament. Correct me if I'm wrong. But besides that, I don't have anything else to add to your arguments.

As I'm writing this, it's "only" 3-7. At least they are showing a bit of what they are capable of here in the third. Really nice goal btw from Willhöft to make it 2-7.

Was just coming to mention this.

Willhöft was flying in the third but boy did he look small. In general, I found myself wondering if this is Ukraine's U19 team. Some of them looked pretty big.

So, a 3-0 3rd period is at least a sign of life. 3 games in 4 days can take its toll but definitely not a good look today.

I thought the German team spent a lot of the game playing too complicated and too inconsequential. Lots of really unnecessary turnovers resulted.