Coming into Saturday night, Germany had yet to score a single goal in their two games.
They finally found the back of the net but it wasn’t enough. Germany fell to Belarus 5-3 in each teams’ final preliminary game. As a result, the Belarussians finally added a number in the win column and the Germans finish the round robin portion of the tournament with three losses and just three goals.
Nashville Predators forward Marcel Goc assisted on the first goal of the game (and Germany’s first goal of the tournament) and then scored what was, at the time, the game-tying goal for Germany. Unfortunately, just 2:26 later, Belarus re-took the lead and held on for the win.
Goc, who had yet to register even one shot on goal in the first two games, fired six on Belarus goaltender Vitali Koval, leading his team.
The 26-year old “diamond in the rough” pick-up for the Preds this season leads all German forwards in ice time (55:43) and in shooting percentage (16.67%) through the first three games. And, with the two points, Goc leads all of his countrymen in scoring after the preliminary round.
Goc joins Ryan Suter (USA) and Shea Weber (Canada) for the most points among Predator Olympians.