Julius Sumpf scored a power-play goal at 4:03 of the third period to break a 3-3 tie and send Germany to a 4-3 win over Kazakhstan today in the relegation game. The win keeps Germany in the top pool for next year (Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota) and sends the Kazakhs down to Division I-A for 2026, where they played last year.

Germany had fought back from deficits of 1-0 and 3-1 to tie the game in the second period.

"This is a big win for the whole country," said Sumpf. "We didn't want to get relegated; our U18s already have, so it was important for us to stay up. It was a shock to be down like that but we were lucky when we got the 5 on 3 . Our power play is really good, so we knew we could come back. We were conformable going into the third, knowing if we got another chance we could score again."

The last time these nations faced each other in a similar scenario was in 2020 when they played a best-of-three relegation series. The Germans won the deciding game, 6-0.

Sumpf admitted the team had trouble adjusting to the early start time (11.00). "We didn't start well. We were a little sleepy, but our special teams have been good all tournament and they were today as well. It was great for us. We woke top at 6.45 and walked for about 12 minutes. Then we had pasta for breakfast at 8 in the morning, then went to the rink. And once we were there the routine is always the same. But we weren't our best when the game started at 11, but the more theme went on we got better and better."

"I think in every game we could have played better," suggested Kazakh forward Alexander Kim. "We had some good moments against Slovakia, when we tied the game and went to overtime, but we still have  a lot of work to do. We have to learn from our mistakes. We have to win Division I and come back and stay here."

Kazakhstan got off to the start it wanted, opening the scoring at 4:33 after creating a turnover at centre ice. Assanali Ruslanuly fired a bullet over the glove of Linus Vieillard in the slot to make it 1-0.

 

The lead didn’t last long. Eight seconds, to be exact. Germany brought the puck into the offensive zone off the ensuing faceoff and Nick Maul took a quick shot that Vladimir Nikitin couldn’t handle. It bounced off the leg of Maxim Schafer to tie the game.

Teams played a more conservative style most of the period, knowing the skates couldn’t be higher, but Kazakhstan managed to go ahead late on a clever play by Nikita Sitnikov. The play started when Artur Gross claimed a puck that bounced over a German’s stick, giving him a breakaway. He fired wide, but Sitnikov got the puck to the side of the goal and banked a shot in off the pad of Vieillard at 17:46.

The Kazakhs took a two-goal lead early in the second on a goal by Gross that was similar to Ruslanuly’s. He took a pass in the slot from Kirill Kankin and fired a shot over Vieillard’s glove at 2:02.

The course of the game changed soon after, however, when Kazakhstan incurred tow quick penalties, giving Germany a two-skater advantage for 1:44. They connected on both ends of the double chance, the first coming only 12 seconds after the five-on-three started. Schafer was at it again in front, this time making a nice tip of a Julius Sumpf shot to make it 3-2.

Sumpf rattled a shot off the post seconds later, but Germany tied the game 21 seconds after Schafer’s goal. This time Edwin Tropmann’s long shot went the distance, tying the game at 4:19.

And as in the first, after this flurry of goals that left the game all square, teams reverted to a more cautious approach, once again aware of the importance of the result.

"I think it's from lack of experience," Kim said of the blown 3-1 lead. "When we got the lead, we played like we won the game already. We took our foot off the gas, and that's really why we lost."