Germany won the even thriller against Slovenia and home team Slovakia took a secure win against France during the second day of Men´s WFCQ 2018 in Nitra.
Germany wins the dramatic thriller
Germany were ranked much higher than Slovenia and thus were the favourite, but Slovenia didn’t care about rankings or favourites. Both teams were fighting neck and neck, but it was Germany who scored the opening goal with 5 minutes played. The loud Slovenian fans got something to cheer about 8 minutes later as Slovenia shot a rebound in and evened the score. At the end of the period, Germany took the lead once again.
The second period was also full of energy. At 27:09 Slovenia once again evened the score, but 5 minutes later Germany were rewarded with a penalty shot. #32 Tino von Pritzbuer took this chance and scored his third goal of the match. Few minutes later Germany increased their lead to 4-2.
The third period was full of action. Germany were physically stronger which could be seen especially in the one on ones. Soon they increased their lead to 5-2. But Slovenia who were fast on their feet didn’t give up but once again gave their loud fans something to celebrate as they started decreasing the goal until at 55:42 they evened the score to 5-5.
The last minute was dramatic as Slovenia were rewarded with a two-minute powerplay. However, with 17 seconds left on the clock, German’s goalkeeper threw a long pass to #11 Niklas Broeker who took his team to a 6-5 lead. Seventeen seconds wasn’t enough, even though the last seconds Slovenia played 5 against 3, and Germany won the thriller 6-5.
Slovakia takes a relaxed victory
Home team Slovakia faced France in the last match of the day. With five minutes played, Slovakia scored the opening goal. They were playing a relaxed floorball and didn’t put pressure on France, but were rather lurking for France’s mistakes. After 20 minutes the score was 2-1 for Slovakia.
The second period started with Slovakia’s powerplay that was rewarded already at the end of the first period. The home team moved the ball effortlessly but didn’t hit the net. Throughout the period, it seemed like Slovakia were saving their strength and playing passive floorball. The most active team Slovakia were seen when they were playing shorthanded, but still kept ball control for most of the penalty. At 39:11 #12 Martin Grlicky scored his fourth goal and took Slovakia to a 7-1 lead.
The third period remained the same. Slovakia controlled the game even when playing shorthanded and scored their tenth goal with 5 minutes left on the clock. The second French goal was seen few minutes later as they turned the game quickly after a bad pass from Slovakia. In the end France was able to decrease the score to 10-3 as their goalkeeper threw a great opening pass to #87 Tobias Weber who got a breakaway. The match ended in Slovia’s 10-3 victory.
