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.

---

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.

 

[kudla]

Appreciate the effort you guys put into watching german junior hockey !

 

[Maverick41]

Just wanted to share a few increasingly random thoughts about the U16 game from Friday. They won 5-4 againts Norway in OT.
A bit more of an analysis will come after the game against France tomorrow.

• Jonas Schwarz continues to impress me, but Daniel Schneider ist probably my favourite player to watch.
• Two players from previous tournaments that I am really missing are Mark Samoilenko and Markus Hordt.
• Even if he gave up 4 goals and at least one of them was a bit iffy, I like Dave Dützka. I just feel a sense of calm when he is in net.
• The boxscore madness continues. Just a few corrections to the official boxscore:
  • The second German goal was scored by Daniel Schneider (#6) not Jannes Schreiber (#8)
  • Same thing on the fourth German goal, the primary assist belongs to Daniel Schneider (#6) not Jannes Schreiber (#8)
  • And finally on the game winner in OT the secondary assist came from Jaden Switzer (#23) not Jonas Schwarz (#4)
• We have a defenseman in Philipp Steimer, that reminds me of Moritz Seider. Unfortunately it is only his size and his posture that resembles Mo. Not that Steimer is bad, he is just no Mo Seider, none of these kids are.
• I really wish another defenseman, Max Antmann, would become a legit NHL prospect, for all the Ant-Man jokes alone. But with all due respect to young Max, I don't see that happening.

On a sidenote, it looks like that Ukranian U18 might actually be pretty good, they beat Slovakia, too.

 

[KerbanHockey]

Just wanted to share a few increasingly random thoughts about the U16 game from Friday. They won 5-4 againts Norway in OT.
A bit more of an analysis will come after the game against France tomorrow.

• Jonas Schwarz continues to impress me, but Daniel Schneider ist probably my favourite player to watch.
• Two players from previous tournaments that I am really missing are Mark Samoilenko and Markus Hordt.
• Even if he gave up 4 goals and at least one of them was a bit iffy, I like Dave Dützka. I just feel a sense of calm when he is in net.
• The boxscore madness continues. Just a few corrections to the official boxscore:
  • The second German goal was scored by Daniel Schneider (#6) not Jannes Schreiber (#8)
  • Same thing on the fourth German goal, the primary assist belongs to Daniel Schneider (#6) not Jannes Schreiber (#8)
  • And finally on the game winner in OT the secondary assist came from Jaden Switzer (#23) not Jonas Schwarz (#4)
• We have a defenseman in Philipp Steimer, that reminds me of Moritz Seider. Unfortunately it is only his size and his posture that resembles Mo. Not that Steimer is bad, he is just no Mo Seider, none of these kids are.
• I really wish another defenseman, Max Antmann, would become a legit NHL prospect, for all the Ant-Man jokes alone. But with all due respect to young Max, I don't see that happening.

On a sidenote, it looks like that Ukranian U18 might actually be pretty good, they beat Slovakia, too.

Thanks a lot for your insights. It would be awesome if you could provide a short stats summary of our players after the game against France, including the corrected goals and assists. Not sure if they will be updated on the DEB live website.

I'm always someone who gets too excited way too early about younger national teams (as it was the case with the 07s), but I really like the 09 group. Besides Penkin, I do think a couple of players could become legitimate NHL prospects. However, I have to admit that it's simply too early to tell.
These are the players I'm keeping an eye on: Schwarz, Switzer, Martinovic, Bloch, Schneider, Schreiber, and Pellizzari. I don't know much about Kretzschmar.

What do you guys think?

 

[pgfan66]

Thanks a lot for your insights. It would be awesome if you could provide a short stats summary of our players after the game against France, including the corrected goals and assists. Not sure if they will be updated on the DEB live website.

I'm always someone who gets too excited way too early about younger national teams (as it was the case with the 07s), but I really like the 09 group. Besides Penkin, I do think a couple of players could become legitimate NHL prospects. However, I have to admit that it's simply too early to tell.
These are the players I'm keeping an eye on: Schwarz, Switzer, Martinovic, Bloch, Schneider, Schreiber, and Pellizzari. I don't know much about Kretzschmar.

What do you guys think?

Do you know anything about Lasse Schmitz? He's one of the best scorers in the U17 league, I'm surprised he's not considered for the U16 national team.

 

[KerbanHockey]

Do you know anything about Lasse Schmitz? He's one of the best scorers in the U17 league, I'm surprised he's not considered for the U16 national team.

No, unfortunately not. I've never seen him play. But based on his stats and given that the coaches consider him good enough, I can imagine he might get a shot in the future. Especially in the younger national teams, they rotate quite often from tournament to tournament.

 

[Maverick41]

Thanks a lot for your insights. It would be awesome if you could provide a short stats summary of our players after the game against France, including the corrected goals and assists. Not sure if they will be updated on the DEB live website.

I'm always someone who gets too excited way too early about younger national teams (as it was the case with the 07s), but I really like the 09 group. Besides Penkin, I do think a couple of players could become legitimate NHL prospects. However, I have to admit that it's simply too early to tell.
These are the players I'm keeping an eye on: Schwarz, Switzer, Martinovic, Bloch, Schneider, Schreiber, and Pellizzari. I don't know much about Kretzschmar.

What do you guys think?

I just finished watching the U16 game vs. France and I will post my thoughts on every player a little bit later, because I haven't really eaten anything today, at least nothing remotely nutritious, and I need to do that.
Just a quick general observation about the three games (2 against Norway, 1 against France). They did not play bad, but I expected more against this competition. Neither France nor Norway looked like they should be a big problem for this team, but at least Norway was. France not so much.

Obviously the team was missing some guys I would expect on the team when everyone is available, like Kretzschmar, Pellizzari, Samoilenko and of course Penkin.
For me Hordt should also be a lock, but we'll see.

I don't know if I will be able to finish all players today, but at least I'll get started and I will do them in ascending order of their jersey number.

 

[Maverick41]

Now for a look at the individual players of the U16 team this week. I'll split it up in several posts because this will be a lot of text.

#1 - G - Maximilian Leister
Leister was the goalie in the game against France and that was not really revealing much, as the French team did not exactly generate a whole lot of offense. The lone goal against was a result of a bit of a misunderstanding between Leister and defenseman Philipp Steimer. Leister wantend to play the puck into the corner Steimer's stick got in the way and the puck ended up with the French and they scored. Other than that Leister was there when needed, and one or two of his saves were pretty good, but most of the time the French forwards were missing the net entirely. So, not much to do for the kid.

#2 - LD - Luca Kempf
Kempf was paired with David Jenka and this was the first time I really got a good look at his game. He is somewhat on the smallish side for a defenseman, but not too small. He skates well and has shown some skill with the puck. Physically he needs to get stronger though, because he did get outmuscled a few times. At this point I see him as one of many options for the blueline.

#3 - LD - Max Antmann
Antmann was paired with Lennart Rekis and was not really that noticeable, which would have been great against stronger competition, but against France and Norway I would have liked to see a little more from him.

#4 - C/LW - Jonas Schwarz
Schwarz did not take many (if any) faceoffs, but I think he did still play the center role. It was a little hard to tell, because he was pretty much everywhere. His linemates for the most part, were Jaden Switzer and Paul Martinovic, who usually took the faceoffs.
Schwarz is on the smaller side, but probably just big enough, that it should not hold him back. His skating is very good and he is one of the better stickhandlers we have seen in recent years. This team actually has a few guys who are pretty good at this, and Schwarz is the best of them. He also has something, very few of our prospects have at that age, a good shot. His wrister is fairly hard and accurate and he can make last second adjustments to fool the goalie. Still a lot of room to grow, but he looks very promising. Definitely needs to get a bit bigger and stronger, but in most other areas he is already really good. And he is not just and offense only player, he backchecks, does well on the pk and shows a good amount of hustle.

#5 - LD - Finn Hess
I think this was the first time I saw Hess play for the national team, but I had seen him a few times with his club team. He was playing alongside Philipp Steimer. Other than that I could pretty much copy+paste what I wrote about Antmann. Hess was slightly more noitceable in a good way, but he still joins a big group of potential candidates for the blueline in this age group.


I will probably post the next group before I go to bed and the rest hopefully tomorrow, thogh that will depend on how busy I'll be with work.

 

[Maverick41]

Just quickly before I move on to the next group here are the boxscores as I saw them for all 3 games (I :

Germany - Norway 2:3 (1:1/1:2/0:0)
0:1 Alexander Bustgaard (Kristian Tlstovic)
1:1 Jaden Switzer (Tim Hartmann)
2:1 David Jenka (Jonas Schwarz, Paul Martinovic) - PP1
2:2 Philip Tollefsen (Birk Martinsen, Alexander Bustgaard) - PP1
2:3 Kristian Tlstovic (Aron Kuvas)

---

Germany - Norway 5:4 OT (1:2/1:0/2:2/1:0)
0:1 Christopher Fenner
1:1 Jonas Schwarz (Jaden Switzer, David Jenka)
1:2 Alexander Bustgaard (Eik Aardalen)
2:2 Daniel Schneider (Lennox Ullmann, Lennard Riedel)
2:3 Eik Aardalen (Alexander Bustgaard, Werner Hansson)
2:4 Werner Hansson (Alexander Bustgaard, Johannes Wisth)
3:4 Jonas Schwarz (Paul Martinovic)*
4:4 Paul Martinovic (Lennard Riedel, Daniel Schneider)**
5:4 Tim Hartmann (Jannes Schreiber, Jaden Switzer) - PP1

* officially Lucas Kempf was also credited with an assist, but I just don't think he touched the puck.
** it's not 100% clear but the way I see it, it went like this: Schneider shoots, the rebound hits Riedel's backside and Martinovic bangs it home.

---

Germany - France 4:1 (1:0/1:0/2:1)
1:0 Lennard Riedel (Lennox Ullmann, Daniel Hilbert)
2:0 Daniel Schneider (Nikolai Hartmann)
2:1 Lou Richard (Hermès Perrenoud)
3:1 Jaden Switzer (Jonas Schwarz, Paul Martinovic)
4:1 Jonas Schwarz (Lennard Riedel)

 

[Maverick41]

#6 - RW - Daniel Schneider
Schneider remains one of my favourite prospects. I just love his motor. He certainly falls into the category of pest out there. Always playing with a bit of an edge. Not as much this time, because the games overall were not too chippy, but he is not afraid to mix it up, and while he is on the smaller side, he plays really big and pretty much has the strength to do so. He should add some more stregth anyway, but I have already seen him level much bigger guys. He is a heart & soul type of player that can provide energy whenever the coach sends him out there. Good skater, at time relentless forechecker (he could do that a bit more consistently), always hustles back to break up odd man rushes, especially when he was the one turning the puck over. Guys like that often lack skill and define themselves purely through their hustle, but Schneider is also skilled. Not quite on the level of Schwarz but skilled enough to make a major impact on the offensive side while being solid defensively. And this time I only recall one unnecessary penalty by him. I really enjoy watching him play.
He started the week playing with Lennard Riedel and Lennox Ullmann, but this did not really work. They felt disconnected out there. During the second game against Norway he was switched with Daniel Hilbert and his new linemates were Leon Hamann and Nikita Bloch. That worked notiecably better for both lines.

#7 - RW - Leon Lamprecht
Lamprecht played alongside the two Hartmanns Nikolai and Tim. Lamprecht is kind of a less intense, one might say vanilla version of Schneider. Similar in size, he is not as strong or physical in his play but he is also quick and can close the gap on a defender in a hurry on his forecheck. Like Schneider he is also quite skilled and he possesses a knack for scoring goals, even if he could not do so in these games, his ability to create sudden scoring chances for himself out of nowhere was evident. He hit the post one time, if I recall correctly and had a few more decent chances. I am a little worried about him keeping up at the next level, but we'll see. This time around he looked a little bit off, compared to previous tournaments.

#8 - LD - Jannes Schreiber
This was probably only the second time I watched Schreiber and came away disappointed. He was playing next to Malcolm McCrae and honestly I did not think they worked well together. I just don't think they complement each other well. To me it seems they are both better served playing with a more defensive minded partner that allows them to be the puck mover who may join the rush. One thing he shared with all other defensemen was that he struggled to defend the rush. In past tournaments he had more success doing it, and against better players. At times he seemed lethargic, and he provided very little offense by his standard. I am definitely a little harsher on him than the others, because of the high standards he had set before, but I hope this was more of a fluke and he will return to form soon.

#10 - RD - Malcolm McCrae
As mentioned with Schreiber, I don't think those to are ideal partners. McCrae is a smallish defenseman and did struggle a bit with physical play against bigger forwards, though he did not shy away from it, he was just outmatched on a few occasions. From a player like that, I would expect a lot more offense than he showed in these games, but that may have been a result of his pairing with Schreiber. I would love to see him play with a partner that holds down the fort, freeing him up for more offense. But this was also his first time with the team, so that may also have contributed. And overall he played alright, just did not stand out in any way. This was also my first time watching him, since he is playing in Canada this season and was playing in Switzerland before that.

#11 - RD - Philipp Steimer
This kid is huge, and the more I watched him, the more I liked at least the potential. I think he is a bit too slow, not the greatest skater and certainly not an agile one, but he knows how to compensate for a lot of those issues. He was very deliberate about any offensive efforts, and there were some. With one exception he chose his moments very wisely. But his biggest asset was his reach. He used it well several times to poke the puck off a forwards stick towards one of his own teammates. I also wish he was less "nice" out there. It just always seems like he is holding back a little, whether it's in a board battle or in a scrum around the goal. He almost seems afraid he might hurt someone. The way he shoves opposing forwards when they keep slashing at the goalies pads feels almost apologetic. He has a lot to work on and those aren't easy things to improve, but if he does, his potential could be sky high.
Like Mark Samoilenko, who was missing from this tournament, Steimer made the move from Munich to Cologne in mid-December. Maybe this will help with both of their development.

Alright that's the second part (out of 5). The remaining three will come tomorrow, unless I get totally swamped with work.

 

[Maverick41]

#15 - LW - Lennard Riedel
Riedel was still a bit of an unknown for me before the tournament. I had seen him a few times but never really focused on him. In the games against Norway, he was not that much of a factor, until the change was made to put Hilbert instead of Schneider on his line. Once Hilbert, Ullmann and Riedel were playing together they all improved. Those three are all on the bigger and stronger side and together capable of getting a bit of a cycle game going. They protected the puck well in the offensive zone and were also effective on the forecheck. Riedel in particular managed to create quite a few turnovers in the offensive zone, using his size, strength and reach.
In the final minutes of the France game, he was also used to replace Jaden Switzer on the top line after he got hurt, and he did a decent job in his place including winning a face off cleanly back to Jonas Schwarz who immediately scored with a wrist shot.

#16 - RW - Leon Hamann
Hamann can be a really frustrating player to watch. He is skilled, a decent skater and for the most part plays with a lot of energy. But he can also turn the puck over quite a bit, and in this tournament, he went for the low percentage plays a little more than I would have liked. Things got a little better after the line adjustment when Schneider joined him and Bloch. But that also meant he did not have the puck as much, because Schneider is a much more puck dominant player than Hilbert. It took all three a little bit to adjust to each other but for the most part they figured it out.
Another thing that was frustrating watching Hamann in these games, both before and after the line adjustment, was that he would pull off some impressive plays, but in the end, nothing would come of it, often not even a shot on goal, because he hesitated a moment too long or a pass was just slightly off. A few inches this way or that way on some of his plays and it may have been a very different tournament for him.

#17 - LW - Nikolai Hartmann
Nikolai Hartmann playing on the same line as Tim Hartmann makes me confuse them sometimes even though I should know by now, that Nikolai is the smaller guy playing on the wing, while Tim is the bigger center. Nikolai is a skilled, elusive and creative player. He is a bit similar to Lamprecht who was the third player on that line, but more of a playmaker in that configuration.
He showed flashes of his skill, but overall, it was a quiet tournament for him.

#19 - C - Lennox Ullmann
Lennox Ullmann never really stands out much, but still always contributes. He is just not a flashy player who dazzles with his skill, but more of a solid worker, who does the little things to keep plays alive, win back possession or disrupt an opponent’s attack. It’s not that he is entirely without skill, just not in the way some of the others are.

#20 - RD - David Jenka
David Jenka is a defenseman I have grown to like a lot. He does not always stand out, but every time I have seen him, he’s been solid. He makes few mistakes and finds ways to contribute offensively more than I had initially thought, when I first saw him. And these games confirmed all that again. He is big, though he could stand to be a bit more physical and assertive in his own zone. But his defensive game is usually solid. His skating is ok for his size, but could use some improvement to get to the next level.

I am almost done, but I have to do some work now, so I'll probably post the last two parts in the evening.