Germany built a formidable lead, withstood a Danish rally, and pulled away in the third period to defeat Denmark, 8-4, in the relegation game.

The result means Germany will be back in the top pool of the World Junior Championship next year while the Danes will be demoted to Division I-A. The Danes lost alll five games they played while Germany won only one, but it was the last one, the most important.

"Our main goal once we didn't make the playoffs was to win this game," said defender Manuel Schams, who scored two goals for the Germans. "I'm excited for the group that we did that. I think we wanted it a little more. Today was our best game. We grew together as a team throughout the tournament."

"I think we played pretty well today, but when you give up eight goals it's hard to win a game," said Dane Mads Klyvo, who had two goals and an assist. "We took too many penalties today. That made it hard. I can promise you one thing, and that is that we're going to do everything to win next year and come back here."

Germany got off to just the start it wanted, opening the scoring at 3:37. Dustin Willhoft moved off the side boards and found David Lewandowski in the slot, and he didn’t miss with the golden opportunity.

Just three and a half minutes later, they doubled their lead on a power play when Maxim Schafer banged in a rebound from in front. The goal was representative of the Danish penalty kill all tournament, which surrendered a whopping eleven goals on 18 short-handed situations up to this moment. 
 

But to the good, Denmark got back into the game on a late power play of their own, just their second goal on ten man-advantage opportunities in the tournament. Oliver Larsen made a great pass to Klyvo to the back side, and he swept the puck into the open side at 17:10.

The Germans took control early in the second and looked to put the game out of reach with two quick goals. Schams tried to find a man in front with a pass, but the puck went off the skate of Danish defender Jesper Olsen and beyond the reach of a frustrated Anton Wilde in goal.

Then, at 4:48, Simon Seidl put a hard shot over the shoulder of Wilde, who was already down on the ice. But just when it seemed the Germans had all but won, Denmark mounted a comeback. They made it 4-2 on another successful power play. Larsen sprung Klyvo free with a nice pass, and Klyvo went in alone and beat Linus Vieillard with a clean shot.

Less than four minutes later, they drew to within a goal courtesy of two fine plays by William Bundgaard behind the German goal. First, he knocked down a clearing out of mid-air. Then, he controlled the puck and found Oliver Green in front. Green made no mistake, and now a certain loss looked to be anything but.

"We went in to the game with the mentality of never give up and work hard," Klyvo added. "We tried to stay positive and be calm, to trust the process and our game."

That all changed early in the third when the Danes ran into penalty trouble. Germany had a 5-on-3 for 1:27 and took advantage, making it a two-goal game again at 5:04.Willhoft circled the slot, cut in, and roofed a nice shot over Wilde's glove.

Schams got his second of the night off a long shot that fooled Wilde, but Anton Linde got one back for the Danes a minute later. He took a pass from Martinus Schioldan and made no mistake from in close. However, another penalty and another power-play goal for the Germans put the game out of reach once and for all when Lenny Boos made it 7-4 with a short-side shot.

Captain Tobias Schwarz closed out the scoring with an empty netter at 18:57.

"I think we as a team and as a nation learned a lot from this tournament," Klyvo affirmed. "We see what it takes to be in the top division."