First surprise of the tournament. Team Germany was stopped by lucky Mexicans

The open game of second day ended with great disappointment for top favorite of Group C. Team Germany is expected to fight against Team GB for first place but after its unexpected draw with Mexicans it will be much tougher. The Germans failed in plenty of opportunities and they were punished by very productive and lucky opponent.

Game 2   •   C   •   Tu 13.7.2010   •   10:30   •   Schedule and results
Germany	2:2	Mexico
(1:1, 1:1, 0:0)
Stieglitz (Felkel) - Bierschenk. F. Carciola, Heinrich, S. Schlicht, A. Carciola, D. Schlicht, Brinkmann, Wertham, Cristo, Wintgen		Guadarrama (Suarez) - Auiles, Cardoso, Martinez, M. Odronez, Hernandez, Campos, Baxter, Coene, Pineda, Ramirez, R. Ordonez, Grosso
Goals and assists: 19. Heinrich (Bierschenk), 33. Wintgen (D. Schlicht) - 9. Baxter (Ramirez), 21. Baxter (Ramirez).
Shots: 51:29 (19:16, 32:13, 0:0). Penalties: 4:2. PP goals: 1:0. SH goals: 0:0. Referees: Wagner, Mackinnon. Audience: 70.
Official game sheet (PDF)     video

Report

The Germans started to attack immediately after the opening face-off and Guadarrama had to guard the goal very precisely. Mexicans reminded their power with the very good opportunity. After flat pass Ramirez stroked the cross bar. The Mexican goalie saved his team in 7th minute when he stopped the puck closely in front of the goal line.

Team Germany underestimated the opponent and often it forgot to defense. And it was punished very quickly by Brian Baxter who beat Stieglitz with the shot from the circle – 0:1. Team Mexico played usually under the pressure but Guadaramma tortured German forwards. Till one minute before the end of first half Heinrich from rebound tied the game – 1:1.

But Team Germany did not manage to reverse the game. At the beginning of second half Baxter scored powerplay goal and Mexico took the lead again – 1:2. The outsider of the game relied on the solid defence and went out to quick breakaways, Baxter hits the goalpost. The Germans finally scored equalizer when after nice pass Wintgen deflected the puck into the net – 2:2. The favorite tried to add other goal but unsuccesfuly. So Mexicans robbed Germany and earned first point in the championship

Author: Tomas Pavlicek

Comments

Jesse Panek (Team Germany coach): Today we have just not played well. I do not know why. We were skating too little, our performance was without interest. Mexicans were faster and they deserved to win. We cannot continue with the similar performances in next games

Gerardo Polanco (Team Mexico coach): The game was very tight. The both teams played very well. Today the both teams could win, the little things were crucial.