Sandra Abstreiter wearing her German goalie gear while playing for PWHL Ottawa in 2023-24. © Marc DesRosiers-Imagn ImagesSandra Abstreiter played in all five games for Germany at the 2025 IIHF Women’s World Championship in České Budějovice. Germany went 2-3 and was outscored only 12-11 in the tournament, as Absteiter posted a goals-against average of 2.22 and a save percentage of .923.
In the quarterfinals against the USA, the Germans were outshot 51-12 but, thanks to their goalie, lost only 3-0.
“I’m really tired,” Abstreiter laughed after the game. “Honestly, I think we held them off pretty well. They were obviously dominating us the whole game but I don’t think we made it super easy for them. I think we kinda surprised them with that.”
Evaluating the whole tournament, she said, “Our start wasn’t exactly how we wanted it to be but we took steps forward every single game. Every game had some ups and downs, which we can clean up on, but our last game, I think we played really well and overall, we played a pretty solid tournament again.”
Like other PWHL players, Abstreiter is flying back overseas on Monday, so she’s got a few days to rest in the meantime.
Last season, Abstreiter played three games for PWHL Ottawa backing up Emerance Maschmeyer. This season, with the Montreal Victoire, she’s been third in the goaltending depth chart behind Ann-Renée Desbiens and Elaine Chuli, and has not seen any regular-season action. However, the 26-year-old German netminder keeps a positive attitude about it.
“I go into every practise pretending like it’s a game,” she said. “That’s kinda what I have to do. That’s what I’ve done the past couple years. I just have to be there 100 percent every single day. It’s kinda just a mental thing. At the end of the day, it’s just flipping that switch – it’s game time now.
“I think I’ve proven again that it just works for me. I don’t think it’s gonna be my future – it’s certainly not my goal to not play games during the season, but so far I’ve just been lucky that it’s still working out.”
Even if she plays rarely, she still believes playing in the two-year old North American circuit has helped her be better prepared to face some of the world’s elite national teams and players.
“Especially today,” she said, going back to the quarterfinal game against the USA, whose roster includes Montreal teammates Cayla Barnes and Anna Wilgren. Canada’s top line of Marie-Philip Poulin, Laura Stacey and Jennifer Gardiner is all from Montreal. “Those girls, I face those shots every day so I’m kinda used to the pace of it. Like I said, in every practise I give 100 percent, and that’s what I can transfer to today.”
Looking ahead, Abstreiter is optimistic about the 2025-26 season, not only because of the possibility of more playing time but also because of the Winter Olympics in Milan, which Germany qualified for thanks to another great performance from their goalie this past February.
“I think next year’s gonna be a super-exciting year for us,” she smiled. “Going to the Olympics for the first time in years, I think that’s where we can show the world that we have taken steps forward. I’m just really excited to get next season started and I think it’s gonna be great.”
