Ice hockey women start the Nations Tournament with victory
The German women's ice hockey team has made a successful start to the Nations Tournament in Landshut. In the competition, held for the first time together with the men's Germany Cup, the team of national coach Jeff MacLeod won 1:0 (0:0, 1:0, 0:0) against Denmark on Wednesday. Jennifer Miller scored the winner in the 29th minute in front of 1028 spectators. On Friday (19.00 hrs/Magentasport), the second match will be against Finland, who lost 2:4 to the Czech Republic, who finished third in the World Cup.
For a long time, the Danes repeatedly despaired of the German goalkeeper Sandra Abstreiter. In September, the 25-year-old was the first German to be selected by Ottawa in the women's draft for the newly founded Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) in North America. In January 2024, six teams, the so-called Original Six from Boston, New York and Minnesota (USA) as well as Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal (Canada), will compete in the PWHL.
Abstreiter currently plays for the ECDC Memmingen Indians. With eight other players, the club from Bavaria makes up the largest block in national coach MacLeod's squad. However, striker Miller from the Mad Dogs Mannheim was responsible for the goal. The 25-year-old gave Denmark's goalkeeper Caroline Thomsen no chance in defense. Miller had only been called up on Monday to replace Lisa Heinz.
With 90 seconds to go, the newly promoted team took the keeper out of the goal, but the DEB team still managed to hold on for a narrow victory.
A rematch of the game against Denmark will take place next year on April 4 at the World Championship in the USA. The two teams will then meet in Utica in the US state of New York in Group B.
The men's national team of national coach Harold Kreis starts the tournament against Denmark on Thursday (7.45 pm/Magentasport). Austria and Slovakia are the other opponents for the runners-up.
The German women's ice hockey team, who made history with Jennifer Miller's winning goal in the DEB Nations Tournament, will face Finland in their next match. In the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL), established in January 2024, Sandra Abstreiter, the German goalkeeper who was selected by Ottawa, will also compete.
Source: www.dpa.com
