GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany — Before a record hockey crowd of 77,803, the United States lost to Germany 2-1 Friday in the opening game of the world championships.
Felix Schutz scored the winning goal 21 seconds into overtime at Veltins Arena, ordinarily the home of the Schalke soccer team. The attendance broke the record of 74,544 set in 2001 when Michigan State hosted Michigan at Spartan Stadium.
Schutz tapped home a pass from Constantin Braun just inside the blue line. A video review was needed to determine if Schutz was in the crease.
Michael Wolf scored Germany’s opening goal five minutes into the second period. Ryan Carter tied it with 11:32 left in the Group D game.
Germany goalie Dennis Endras saved 31 of 32 shots and was named player of the game.
“I think our team truly played a truly inspired game. They were excited by seeing the fans outside the stadium,” Germany coach Uwe Krupp said.
“This team is very young and very excitable. And they rose up to the occasion. And we had great goaltending. And you don’t win a game like this without a little bit of luck.”
The U.S. plays Denmark on Monday and Germany faces Finland.
“It’s a long tournament,” U.S. captain Jack Johnson said. “We can still walk out of here with a gold medal. And that’s our attitude.
“I don’t think we played poorly. Their goaltender played really great.”
Finland and Denmark meet on Saturday, the same day Canada takes on Italy and Switzerland faces Latvia in Group B.
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