GERMANS HOLD OFF RUSSIAN RALLY, EARN FIRST WIN

COURTENAY, BC – For the first time since 2001, Germany will play for something other than ninth place at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.

Tom Kühnhackl’s second goal of the game with 6:05 to go stood up as the winner as the Germans advanced to Saturday’s fifth-place game at the Alberni Valley Multiplex with a 5-4 victory over Russia.

Konrad Abeltshauser, Yasin Ehliz and Bernhard Keil also scored for Germany, who recorded just its second win in 16 preliminary round games dating back to the 2002 U17 tournament in Selkirk, MB. Ehliz and Abeltshauser had two assists each to give them both three-point nights.

Evgeny Kuznetsov scored twice to lead the Russian offensive attack. Aleksander Gogolev and Evgeny Grigorenko also picked up goals in a losing cause, while Ivan Telegin and Ivan Gavrilenko recorded a pair of assists apiece.

With the Slovakia-Finland game in Port Alberni also finished, the Saturday match-ups are set: Germany will face Quebec at the Alberni Valley Multiplex for fifth place (11 a.m. PST), while the Russians will take on Slovakia for seventh spot. Check the event schedule for all game times for Saturday.