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.

 

[Maverick41]

Ok, I finished the last of the three U17 games against Slovakia.
Apparently, I was wrong and they only had two goalies. Röckl got another start after starting the first game.

Overall, the team did alright in games 2 and 3 after a horrendous first game. It was never really in question that the Slovaks were the better team, but the gap was not nearly as big as it seemed in that first game. It looked like the team was slowly developing something close to a structure, which was completely absent in the blow out loss on Wednesday. That doesn't mean the concerns I had before are gone. This group still lacks any serious offensive depth and the defense is almost 03/04 level of weak. The absence of Rolsing who was with the U18 certainly did not help with that.

Now, for some thoughts about individual players and by that I mean skaters. I don't really have anything new to say about goalies.

Aurelius Pizka was probably the best defenseman on the team overall. He had among the fewest mistakes and miscues and contributed a little bit to the offense as well. Daniel Kettler is my pick for second best. In the final game he may have been better than Pizka and even contributed offensivel with a nice assist to Lukas Greil. Hackert, Riegel and Mayer were there, but I seldomly noticed them unless they turned the puck over or blew their coverage. Not that they did that all the time, but it happened none of them could really get anything going offensively.
I have always been a bit down on Gerhofer and while his play was not perfect, it was the best I have seen him at this level. All in all he still fell in the same category as the other three, but I had lower expectations for him. Finally, there was Liam Trewm who I saw for the first time playing for the national team, and I'd like to see him get more chances. He had his share of bad turnovers and questionable plays, but he also had a really nice defensive play in the second game, hustling back and catching up to a Slovak on the breakaway and poking the puck away from behind denying a shot on goal. At times it seemed like he was just not used to playing against competition of this level, but I really like his skating and I think there is more potential with him than most of the others. He also scored a goal in the final game, although that shot had no business going in.

On to the forwards. Let's start with the first and by far best line:
Tobias Krestan, Mats Geppert and Vyacheslav Permitin work well together and with the exception of Lukas Greil they were also the most skilled forwards on the team. Krestan seems to be the only forward who can actually beat a good goalie with his shot without the goalie helping out. Permitin has probably the second best shot. Nobody else seems worth mentioning. Krestan has improved in some areas that I viewed as weaknesses a year ago. He is winning more puck battles, though he still needs to get stronger, but he is much smarter about it and uses smarts and dexterity to make up for what he may still lack in strength.
Geppert is more of a two-way playmaker. If his passing ability, which is fine just not great, ever catches up to his vision and IQ, watch out. He does a lot of the little things and has begun to show signs that he may be able to dictate the pace of the game. Permitin is just a jack-of-all-trades. I have seen him drive his own line when paired with lesser skilled linemates, and when he plays with someone like Krestan, he just becomes this puck hound complementary player with a mixture of hustle and skill that he uses to create space for Krestan and in this case Geppert.

The second line in the first two games was formed by Lukas Greil, Jakub Kottner and Toni Fürst and I thought they did ok, even if they did not show up on the scoresheet (aside from Greil I Believe). Greil was, for the most part, dynamic and created a number of scoring chances for himself and his linemates. And both Kottner and Fürst also did their parts at both ends of the ice. Still they were sort of demoted for the last game where the team dressed 13 forwards and they both were among the forwards that rotated a bit and saw less ice time. Their spots next to Greil were taken by Karl Wolfsteiner and Erik Michel. Their was a clear lack of chemistry between those three and the whole line looked off. Michel is one of those inoffensive players that fills out the bottom 6 in years where we are lacking depth. He is not terrible, but he just cannot contribute much against this level of competition. Wolfsteiner is a bit different. He is a very disruptive player, or at least he was in these games. He constantly agitated, finishing hits (a bit late), shoving opponents (sometimes in the head/neck area) and just being an overall pest. On the other hand he also brought a lot of energy, went to the dirty areas and was one of the few, if not the only forward that even attempted to be something like a net-front presence. That's how he scored one of his two goals. I don't like the sneaky dirty stuff, but if he can reign that in a little, he could be useful.

The third line throughout all the games was the Tölzer line of Hassmann, Strauss and Schlager. And I was a bit disappointed, that they didn't really create much of anything in all three games. All three of them are big/tall have some decent skill and good straight line speed, but they all turn like trucks. If they had to play on the smaller surface they would constantly bump into the boards. Honestly nothing more to say about them, except one thing to give credit where it's due, they were responsible for most of the bigger hits the team had.

That just leaves Lukas Buschbeck and Andreas Kuhn. Each sat one game and then they both played the last game rotating with Fürst and Kottner for playing time on the fourth line. I'll keep it short, both fall in the same category for me as Erik Michel. All three would be candidates to be left off the roster if Max Penkin or any other 09s would join this team. And even without any of the 09s, I'd say they are competing with the likes of Schloßnikel, Sladkovs and a few others for those final spots. Not that there are many locks at this point. For me the only locks are Krestan, Greil, Permitin and Geppert. Fürst and Kottner should also be fairly safe, but after that the forward spots are wide open.