Germany won the battle of the 8th place after turning the game around in the third period.
– We won when we really had to, it was great, says goalkeeper and MVP for Germany Emely-Alice Leu.
A little less than half-way through the first period Russia scored the first goal of the game by Julia Selezneva. But Germany would equalize shortly after when Janika Willingmann managed to score from behind Russia’s goal. However, Russia was not prepared to let go of their lead that easily, and took it back just nine seconds later. The score 2-1 would then remain unmodified until the first intermission.
The second period would be a tight one. Both teams had some great chances to score, such as a post-hit from Germany followed by an open goal for Russia. But the second period would pass without any goals scored, due to some great saves from the goalkeepers combined with a small portion of bad luck.
In the third period there would immediately be a lot of action going on, and after as little as three and a half minutes, Germany had gone from being behind 1-2 to taking over the lead. But Russia would not take long to equalize. Diana Buevskaya scored 3-3 by a beautiful finish.
Scoring on a volley-shot, Chantal Renz made sure Germany would retake the lead half-way through the last period. Although Russia got really close to evening out the score several times, Germany continued to fight to the very end, and eventually won the game with 4-3.
– We were a bit unlucky, we gave it 100% but it did not end up the way we wanted to, says Alina Rodionova.
MVP Russia: Alina Rodionova
MVP Germany: Emely-Alice Leu
You can follow all the games of the tournament at IFF:s YouTube channel, click the link here.