Damn. Not quite half way through the 3rd period I lost the stream, probably because the live stream finished and I was still half a period behind. Hopefully I can watch the rest on demand later. At the point my stream ended Germany had 4-2 lead and in the end they won 5-2.
I have no idea if this is supposed to be a good or a bad crop of players for Switzerland, so I am not sure what this win really says about our boys.
And for now my recap is only based on a little less than 50 minutes of play.
My three stars of the game:
1st Star: Bartholomäus Oswald (G)
2nd Star: David Lewandowski (C)
3rd Star: Maxim Schäfer (LW)
I am not going through every single player, but here are my thoughts on some of the more notable ones (in alphabetical order and the positions are the ones they played tonight, some are probably playing different positions in their club teams):
LD - Albert Bicker:
In some ways he was simultaneously the best and worst player on the team. Love his skating and his stickhandling is just insane for a defensemen. He had many amazing plays, taking on multiple opponents and coming out on top, also a couple of great, but risky passes. When things went well he looked like a star, but some of the risks he took made me incredibly nervous. He looked like the kind of player that can give a coach ulcers or a heart attack.
LD - Max Bleicher:
Kind of the polar opposite of Bicker. Defensively more repsonsible and also more capable and calm and collected with the puck. Not sure if there is enough skill there for him to become a legit NHL prospect, but his fundamentals look pretty good and no glaring weaknesses were exposed.
C - Tobin Brandt:
He was a bit of a surprise. Didn't really have him on the radar, but he played a solid two-way game and was definitely a plus player for the team. Nothing special, but looked like a good depth guy.
LW - Gustavs Griva:
He was the less noticeable of the twins, but still had a pretty good game. Good skater, good motor and pretty smart player. Also some good shifts on the penalty kill. Great chemistry with his twin, and as the game went on they both started to develop some serious chemistry with Lewandowski as well. Those three had some nice passing plays between them.
RW - Rihards Griva:
More involved in the game than Gustavs, especially offensively. Pretty much the same attributes apply to him. Scored a beauty goal on a nice give and go with his brother, also very effective on the penalty kill, but with one obscenely bad giveaway, that would probably have seen him benched by a lot of coaches.
LW - Nikita Kessler:
Relative to my expectations, which were pretty hight, he was maybe the worst player on the team, or more accurately the most disappointing player. He didn't really get that much done and was looking sort of lost out there. He seemed to have very little chemistry with his linemates Elias Schneider and Sebastian Zwickl. He did show the occasional glimpse of skill that indicates that he can play much, much better, and he did score the first goal.
C - David Lewandowski:
Really impressed with his game. Looked very mature out there. Calm and poised with the puck, many very smart and skilled passing plays. He utilized his linemates better than anyone else on the team. For the most part he also showed a strong two-way game. His line with the Griva twins was the best one out there and he played a big role in that.
G - Bartholomäus Oswald:
The MVP. Up until the first Swiss goal any shot on his goal ended up in one of three ways. 1) Oswald steered it safely into a corner using his pads or his blocker. 2) He made a glove save. 3) He swallowed up the puck with his body, pretty much never giving up a rebound. On both goals against the team played bad/no defense in front of him, but I thought he may have had a shot at saving it, but it is difficult to criticize the kid given his overall play. A real standout performance in my eyes. Though I should point out that I still struggle with the evaluation of goalies.
LW - Maxim Schäfer:
Another one I had not on my radar. Schäfer was also playing a bit under the radar, but he made some very strong plays, and basically no mistakes. And while he is clearly an inferior talent to Späth, he ultimately outperformed him, but playing a very smart and solid all around game. Definitely looking forward to seeing more from him.
C - Mateu Späth:
At times a bit frustrating to watch, but when it comes to pure skill and talent he looked like he's in a league of his own on this team. What I did not like about his game was that he tried to do too much by himself and played like a puck hog out there at times, not utilizing his linemates properly. But again his skill and talent were evident right away, and his assist on the 2nd goal was a thing of beauty. Unfortunately it happened in a corner that is a blind spot for the camera setup they used, so I could not see the board battle and the beginning of the pass.
Overall there were some bad and some good stretches in this game. At times it was really only Oswald keeping the boys in the game, but they also had stretches where they really dominated the play. While I would say the Swiss were a little better, both teams seemed evenly matched to me, but we had the much better goalie.
I am looking forward to the game tomorrow, when the tournament officially starts.
