In the fourth and final match of the Word League Semifinals round robin, Canada was put up to a difficult task facing off against Germany. Coming off a 2-1 loss to the host country Argentina, Canada was outmatched, suffering a 9-0 loss Tuesday afternoon in Argentina.
Finishing off the World League Semifinals round robin with the loss and a 2-2 record, Canada will have to patiently wait out the result of the Spain/Argentina game later today to determine their final ranking in Pool B and quarterfinal opponent on Thursday.
There are two possible outcomes for the Canadians depending on the result of the Spain/Argentina. If Spain pulls off a victory against Argentina, then Canada will place 4th in Pool B and will play the 1st place team from Pool A. In the event of Argentina beating Spain, Canada will finish 3rd in Pool B and will end up playing the 2nd place team from Pool A in the Quarterfinals.
A flurry of German goals in the first few minutes of the 1st quarter set the tone for a match that seemed to last forever for the Canadian side. Within the first seven minutes of the game Canada found themselves down by a score 4-0 favouring the German side with goals coming from Florian Fuchs (2), Christopher Ruhr, and Niklas Wellen.
Regrouping after the 1st quarter, Canada had some positives to take from the majority of the 2nd quarter. Mark Pearson and Gabriel Ho-Garcia brought some brightness to the Canadian side with some nice stick work in effort to generate scoring chances. As the 1st half came to a close some strong defence from Captain Scott Tupper kept the score 4-0 until the 29th minute of the match. Mats Grambusch sealed a solid 1st half for his team as he was credited with Germany’s 5th goal.
The 2nd half of the match didn’t turn out any much better for Canada.
After German captain Moritz Furste netted his team’s 6th goal, Canada decided to make a change in goal sending in Antoni Kindler to replace David Carter. Despite letting in six goals against Germany, David Carter was by far Canada’s best player making some spectacular saves as he has done all tournament long.
Kindler, seeing his first action of the tournament, wasn’t placed in the most desirable of situations letting a Tobias Hauke goal in 38th minute after a giveaway from the Canadian defence. The 3rd quarter was finished off by another goal for Germany as Christopher Ruhr scoring his second goal of the match in the 4th minute.
With the final 15 minutes to go in the match, Canada did its best to find a silver lining trying to end it off on a positive note. Germany added its 9th a final goal of the match in the 49th minute with a goal from Christopher Zeller.
With the victory, Germany currently sits on top of the standings in Pool B finishing off their round robin matches. However, this might change depending on if Argentina wins or ties their match later today.
Canada still remains in third place in awaiting their final placement in Pool B depending on the result of the Spain/Argentina match. Regardless of the result of the deciding game today, Canada will play in the Quarterfinals on Thursday.
Click here for Canada’s full World League Semifinals schedule and results.
