In the ice hockey championships preliminary Germany bagged the top position in Group A beating Slovenia 3-2 in a decisive penalty shootout on Tuesday.

Germans were a bit complacent in the beginning of the match, may be because of having already secured a position in the qualifying round. Slovenia cashed on this and scored 4:09 with young gun Ziga Jeglic’s cross from the right ricocheting into the net off a German defender.

The Germans soon pepped up their efforts busying the Slovenian keeper Robert Kristan with shots. But the things were not as easy as they seemed in the beginning as Slovenes were able to beat the attack and also surprisingly managed to have a lead, when only 8 minutes and 33 seconds of the game were left. The things changed when Rok Ticar made the goal during the last minutes.

The gap was bridged by a power play goal which was made by Michael Wolf. And then came the shot from Andre Rankel. Felix Schütz tied the game during the third minute. He was fortunate since the goal first touched the boards and then went inside the post. But finally the decision was made after eight rounds of shootout match where the winning goal was made by Frank Hördler.

Similar kind of match was seen in the Group B as well where Canada, who is also the winner of Vancover Olympics deferated Switzerland. It was made possible by an almost unbelievable goal made by Kosice leading to a 4-3 win.

While Switzerland had started on a good foot during the first period making a lead during the 12th minute of the game itself, it was a goal made by Raphael Diaz which surprised goalie James Reimer to beat the Swiss.