Cologne/Munich, Germany - Hnat Domenichelli scored a pair of goals as Team Canada and the home town Germans skated to a 2-2 (1-0, 0-1, 1-1) draw in an exhibition game in Cologne Wednesday night as a lead up to this weekend’s Deutschland Cup in Hanover.

With 16,500 in attendance at the KölnArena, Thomas Greilinger of the Nürnberg Ice Tigers skated past Darren Van Impe (Hamburg Freezers) and knocked the puck past Canadian goalie Fredric Chabot, a teammate with the Ice Tigers, to tie the game at two apiece with 14:05 remaining in the third period. The game did not go into overtime.

King: “Impressed”

“I was impressed”, said Canadian head coach Dave King. “The Germans were very strong in 1-on-1 situations. In the past, there were a lot of old players on Team Germany. Today, they have a lot of talented youngsters, who get a good hockey education in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL).”

Hnat Domenichelli (Ambri-Piotta/Switzerland) opened the scoring with under six minutes to go in the first, beating German netminder Robert Müller (Krefeld Pinguine, a 9th-round draft choice of the Washington Capitals in 2001) on the breakaway after a turnover from defenseman Stefan Schauer (Kölner Haie/also drafted in 2001, 5th rd/Ottawa Senators).

Zach has “a lot of fun”

Domenichelli, a former NHLer with Hartford, Calgary, Atlanta and Minnesota, tallied his second goal of the night to put Canada up 2-1 just 45 seconds into the final stanza, ripping a screened wrister past German backup Oliver Jonas (Berlin Eisbären), who had replaced Müller midway through the game.

German defenseman Stephan Retzer of the Kassel Huskies had scored the 1-1 equalizer on a deflected shot late in the second.

“I’m very content”, said German head coach Hans Zach. “We only had one practice to gear up for this game. There’s great chemistry on my team, we have a lot fun.”

Former Baron David Oliver back in Germany

Prior to the game, Head Coach, Dave King named former NHLer Denis Pederson (Berlin Eisbären) captain, with Craig Ferguson (ERC Ingolstadt) and Andy Schneider (Hamburg Freezers) selected as assistants.

Team Canada enters the event as defending champions and will rely on Canadian players currently toiling in four different professional leagues (Germany, Switzerland, Finland and the AHL) to defend the title. The lone player from North America, former Munich Barons winger David Oliver (Utah Grizzlies), arrived following a 48-hour flight delay and did not dress for Canada.