Finland downs Germany in a thriller
Team Finland scored two very late goals to beat Team Germany and finish second in Group B. Finns had a three goal lead for long periods of the game, but had to fight until the very end.
| Game no. 20 • aB3 • TUe 21/6/2011 • 16:00 • Schedule and results | ||
|---|---|---|
Finland |
7:5 |  Germany |
| (2:1, 3:1, 0:1, 2:2) | ||
| Karhu - Ahosilta, Kauppinen, Markkanen, Laaksonen - Jokinen, Joki-Erkkila, Aalto, Lappalainen - Palotie, Lehtonen, Saarinen, Lohtander - Nieminen, Vuori. | Vollmer - Duck, Menge, Greilinger, Engel - Holscher, Wurm, Aab, Blank - Wichert, Seifert, Rossi, Ortolf. | |
| Goals and assists: 2. Palotie (Lohtander, Saarinen), 6. Ahosilta (Markkanen, Kauppinen), 13. Jokinen (Joki-Erkkila), 19. Lohtander (Kauppinen, Saarinen), 24. Ahosilta (Kauppinen), 47. Palotie (Jokinen, Saarinen), 48. Jokinen (Lohtander) - 1. Grelinger (Engel), 21. Greilinger (Engel, Menge), 37. Engel (Greilinger, Holscher), 43. Holscher (Wurm), 44. Wurm (Blank, Holscher) | ||
| Shots: 35:27
(12:6, 7:5, 5:7, 11:9).
Penalties: 0:2.
PP goals: 0:0.
SH goals: 0:0. Refferees: Jakubec (SVK), Würtherle (CZE). |
||
 Live coverage on onlajny.cz | ||
Game report
A high-scoring game was opened by a quick goal by Thomas Greilinger, who finished quick breakaway to give his team a lead. Finland equalized shortly afterwards thanks to Mikko Palotie and went on to dominate the early part of a game. Pat Ahosilta finished his individual effort at 5:28 to swing the lead in Finland´s favor.
Markus Jokinen then scored 21 seconds into the second period with a close range rebound and Kari Lohtander made it 4-1 with an unstoppable slapshot. Thomas Greilinger pulled one back for Germany after 20 minutes of play, but Pat Ahosilta restored a three-goal advantage with a rebound of his own shot.
However, Germans started the last period strongly and goals by Florian Engel, Henrik Holscher and Armin Wurm equalized the score. Finnish team was understandably shocked, but still managed to find an answer through Mikko Palotie´s breakaway and a perfect finish. “We beat a very strong opponent, which is very valuable,” said Palotie.
Markus Jokinen then confirmed second spot in Group B for Finland with an empty net goal and left Germans bottom without a single point. ”We played the game with great determination, but lost the points in the end. We were unlucky,” said a two-goal scorer Thomas Greilinger.
Author: Lukas Peroutka
Game reactions
Nemo Nokkosmaki (Team Finland coach): I am very happy for tonight victory, the opponent was very strong. I was scared when Team Germany tied up the game. I thought that we did not manage to win. The Germans plays very simply hockey, they manage to converte their opportunities. In the end we scored another goal and unfortunately we won. 
Georg Holzmann (Team Germany coach): Today we wanted to win. We failed and it might have happened because of bad luck. The game was very attractive, the spectators must have been statisfied. To next game we should improve our discipline. 
