Germany 4, Belarus 3 ~ Jan. 3 /RELEGATION
Germany wins their first game of the Championship
January 3, 2005
Ralphsworld
Germany won its first game of the World Junior Championship Monday beating Belarus 4-3. Germany used a balanced scoring attack and took advantage of two power plays in the third period to get the victory.
Andre Reiss got the game winner for the Germans on the power play with under two minutes to play in the third period. The Germans seemed to save their best for last as they held Belarus scoreless in the final frame and came back from a one goal deficit to take the win. The relegation game had no bearing on future status as both teams knew going in that they will have to play in the qualifying round to get into next year’s World Junior Championships.
Nonetheless, both teams worked hard and gave the fans at Ralph Engelstad Arena something to cheer about.
Alexey Ugarov gave Belarus a two goal lead scoring twice in the first period, both times he was assisted by Konstantin Zakharov. Germany’s Fabio Carciola was able to cut the Berlarus lead to one with a goal at the 17:15 mark of the period. Carciola scored when his centering pass went off the skate of a Team Belarus defender and past goalie Stepan Goryachevskikh.
It was Zakharov hurting Germany again early in the second period as he put Belarus back up by two scoring 5:22 into the period. German goalie Youri Ziffzer was strong in net making ten saves in the period. Ziffzer finished the contest with 26 saves to his credit. The Germans were able to again cut the Belarus lead to one as Alexander Janzen scored on a one timer off of a nice feed from Marcus Kink.
The third period was the difference for the Germans as they seemed to wear down Team Belarus. Scoring on two of three power play opportunities the Germans finally got a victory in the tournament. Kink tied things up for the game for the Germans at the 13:44 mark of the third period. Taking a feed from Carciola Kink was able to get it by Goryachevskikh who finished the game with 24 saves. Germany finishes the tournament with a record of 1-5, as does Team Belarus who got their victory with an upset win over Team USA.
Belarus was led by player of the game Zakharov who finished with a goal and two assists, as well as Ugarov’s two goals.
For Germany, Garciola was the player of the game with a goal and an assist. Kink also played well for the Germans as he too scored a goal and had a helper.
At the end of the tournament the three top players from each team are recognized for their play. The top players for Germany were; Steffen Tolzer, Jens Baxmann, and Kink. For Belarus the top three were; Ugarov, Andrei Karev, and Andrei Kastsitsyn who did not play in the game versus Germany.
