Netminder keeps punchless Germans in the game
30.12.2002. Richer, Shawna. The Globe and Mail
Dimitri Patzold, the slender
goaltender who guards the crease for Germany, has far from the most
compelling statistics among netminders at the world junior hockey
championship.
Entering yesterday's game against Canada, Patzold owned a 3.50
goals-against-average and a 89.55 save percentage, 10th among the 15
goaltenders who have played thus far in the tournament.
And while Germany's 4-1 loss to Canada won't do anything for those
numbers, Patzold, who stopped 49 shots, is the undisputed star of a
team that has just one goal in three games.
"We knew coming in, from watching their first two games, that he was a
pretty good goalie," Canadian forward Jay McClement said. "We knew the
key to beating him was getting second shots."
He might have added third, fourth and fifth shots, also.
Patzold, six feet tall and 183 pounds, made two saves worthy of the
highlight reels -- one on McClement's breakaway slap shot in the first
period and another on a shot by defenceman Brendan Bell later in the
game.
"He robbed me," Bell said. "I fired a rolling puck, and you know how
hard it is for a goalie to stop those. He reached out with his elbow
and pinched it off. It was amazing. Whether it was luck or skill, I
don't know."
Patzold humbled Canada through the first half. He was peppered with 24
shots before allowing forward Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau the tying
goal. Captain Scottie Upshall scored on Canada's next shot, 10 seconds
later.
Later, Patzold took the loss in stride, saying how much fun it was to play before such a large and frenzied crowd.
"To be in front of 11,000 fans screaming, that doesn't happen to me too
much," he said with a smile. "At first I thought we had a good chance
to shut them out, but they were too much."
The San Jose Sharks prospect, who will turn 20 on Feb. 3, was born in
Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan. A member of Adler Mannheim of the German
League, he is widely regarded as one of Europe's top goaltenders. He
was considered a steal in the 2001 National Hockey League entry draft,
taken by the Sharks in the fourth round, 107th overall.
His play behind the tournament's most anemic offence suggests he has a
bright future with the Sharks, whose lineup boasts another Kazakhstan
native, Evengi Nabokov.
After his team was shut out 4-0 by the Finns, and 3-0 by the Czech
Republic, Patzold admitted he'd grown weary, and the Canadian skaters
gave him no time for rest.
"We put a lot of pressure on him," Upshall said. "He played a great
game. He kept them in it. We were trying to put away goals here, there
and everywhere, and wasn't letting anything in."
He has been compared to Felix Potvin for his quickness, and yesterday
it was easy to see why, as he snapped deflections from the air and was
consistently in the right place at the right time.
Patzold's skill, and his love of the game, came early. He took up
hockey at the age of four, when he attended a Russian Red Army game
with this father, and continued the sport when he moved to Germany at
the age of 12. And while admitting his birthplace is a more skilled
hockey country, he adores Germany.
His father works for Mannheim University and his mother works in a
local supermarket. Neither was able to make the trip to Halifax for the
tournament, but Patzold is happy to be there, if only because facing
teams such as Canada make his game better.
"It's hard to develop in hockey in Germany," he said. "But we learn
Canadian and American hockey, we pay attention. To come over here and
get this kind of game is good for me."
Первая страничка молодежных чемпионатов мира 2003 года
|
|
Подгруппа А - подробнее
Россия, Швейцари, США, Словакия, Белоруссия |
Подгруппа В - подробнее
Канада, Финляндия, Чехия, Швеция, Германия |
За 7-10 места - подробнее
Швейцария, Швеция, Германия, Белоруссия |
1/4 финала - подробнее
США - Чехия
Финляндия - Словакия |
1/2 финала - подробнее
Россия - Финляндия
Канада - США |
Финал - подробнее
За 5 место. Словакия - Чехия
За 3 место. США - Финляндия
За 1 место. Канада - Россия |
| Страничка статистики |
Молодежные чемпионаты мира (до 20 лет) 2003 года.
|
|
|
