Germany wins relegation series

Germany’s Frederik Tiffels had a goal and an assist and Marvin Cupper made 34 saves as Germany beat Norway 3-1 Sunday to survive the relegation round at the 2014 IIHF World Junior Championship.

Top 2014 NHL Draft prospect Leon Draisaitl had two assists and Dominik Kahun and Patrick Klopper each had a goal as Germany won the final game of the best-of-three relegation series and will take part in the 2015 WJC in Montreal and Toronto.

It will be the third straight year Germany remains at the top level of elite under-20 international hockey, the longest such streak since a run from 1992-98.

“It’s awesome," Draisaitl told the IIHF website. "It’s our goal to be a top-10 nation and that’s what we did [Sunday]. It’s going to be probably the greatest experience you’ll ever have next year, playing in Toronto and Montreal. Those are huge cities. They’re crazy about hockey. We’re just really happy about what we did today."

"It’s a great feeling," Tiffels told the IIHF website. "We have 13 players here who are eligible for next year and everybody wanted to stay in the top division."

Norway won Game 1 of the series 3-0 and held a 3-2 lead in the second period of Game 2 before losing 4-3. They will play in the Division I WJC for 2015.

"We had a great first game against Germany," Norway captain Erlend Lesund told the IIHF website. "It’s difficult. I don’t know why we didn’t just take them out in two games. We gave them too much and they took advantage of it."

Magnus Fischer scored for Norway and goalie Joachim Svendsen stopped 23 of 26 shots.

Tiffels scored the game’s first goal with 14 seconds remaining in the first period when he raced down the left side of the ice, took a pass from Draisaitl and put a high shot past Svendsen.

Germany made it 2-0 when Kahun, a 2014 draft-eligible forward who plays for the Sudbury Wolves of the Ontario Hockey League, scored with 20 seconds left in the second period.

Klopper made it 3-0 at 3:43 of the third when he scored between Svendsen’s pads.

Fischer scored at 14:25 but that was as close as Norway would get.

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