USA win Deutschland Cup

Deutschland Cup - Day 3

Slovakia - Switzerland 0-3 (0-1, 0-2, 0-0)

The first Sunday game between Slovakia and Switzerland - before the tournament the favourites to win the cup - had no real meaning any more as the winner could only improve to the second spot in the best case. Still the Swiss team showed a good performance in front of 4,400 spectators in the Olympiahalle in Munich and were rewarded with goals by Kevin Romy (14:06) who deflected a pass from short distance into the net, Etienne Froidevaux (21:40) and Roman Wick (33:33) in power play to decide the match already around "half time". Slovakian goalie Jan Laco even avoided a higher loss by stopping a penalty shot attempt by Benjamin Plüss in the 58th minute. Swiss goalie Daniel Manzato's solid performance earned him a shutout.

USA - Germany 7-4 (1-2, 4-2, 2-0)

The 6,000 fans who followed the devisive match of this year's Deutschland Cup edition saw an entertaining match with a total of 11 goals. Germany started well but in the end their weak defense and the lack to keep leads were punished. Germany was in front 2-0, 3-1 and 4-3 but still was beaten in regulation. Patrick Hager and Michael Wolf opened the scoring for Germany in the first four minutes before Jeremy Dehner answered for the Americans in the middle of the first period. Again Michael Wolf restored the two-goal lead for the tournament hosts at the start of the middle period but Grant Lewis - just 23 seconds later - and Peter Mueller tied the match for Team USA. Although Germany was able to restore the lead through Marcus Kink Chad Kolarik and Pete MacArthur gave the guests the lead for the first time even before the second intermission. Steve Moses and Phil McRae made everything clear in the last 20 minutes against a rather shaky German goalie Dmitrij Kotschnew who hasn't played a single game for his team Hamburg Freezers (DEL) this season due to a cruciate ligament rupture he suffered 8 months ago.  

For the Americans it's their third Deutschland Cup title after winning the tournament in 2003 and 2004. Germany ended the tournament only on the third position.

Deutschland Cup - Final Standings

#    Team Name    P    W    WOT    LOT    L    F    A    GD    Pts
1    USA     3    2    0    1    0    15    12    3    7
2    Switzerland    3    1    1    0    1    10    7    3    5
3    Germany    3    1    0    1    1    8    10    -2    4
4    Slovakia     3    0    1    0    2    4    8    -4    2

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