International hockey
May 17, 2010
Germany saw defeat for the second night in a row, losing to Belarus 2-1 in overtime at the World Ice Hockey Championship in Cologne.
Belarus gained an early lead in the first period when Andrej Mikhalev scored in the seventh minute.
Germany's Marcel Mueller kept hope alive for his team after a scoreless second period by scoring a goal 54 seconds before the end of regulation time to even the score.
But Alexei Kalyuzhny sealed the victory for Belarus by scoring with with 15 seconds left in the five-minute overtime period.
The Germans' defeat comes less than a full day after losing to Russia 3-2.
"We were tired today. We had only 21 hours after the game against the Russians," said Team Germany coach Uwe Krupp. "The Belarusians were patient, they were fresh and they controlled the game. But we fought hard and earned an important point."
But Mueller was frustrated by the loss.
"One point is not enough. Now we have a six-point game against Slovakia," Mueller said.
Now Germany has a day offbefore meeting Slovakia on Tuesday, the game that will decide whether the German team will stay in the running for the quarterfinals.
In Sunday's other world championship matches, Sweden beat Canada 3-1 in Mannheim, Russia swamped Denmark 6-1 in Cologne and Latvia crushed Norway 5-0 in Mannheim.
svs/dpa/SID
Editor: Rick Demarest