It was a great win against Geretsried, but Schweinfurt also won. Now it's against Schongau to stay in the league.
BY HELMUT FINDELSBERGER
Dorfen - The ESC Dorfen ice pirates have delivered. With a convincing performance in front of 350 spectators, they defeated the River Rats of ESC Geretsried 5-2 on Sunday evening (2-1, 0-0, 3-1), but they are not spared the playdowns against Schongau to stay in the class. The Schweinfurt Mighty Dogs with equal points won 3-1 at EC Pfaffenhofen and achieved fifth place thanks to the better goal difference.
With the remaining “foreigner duo” Miculka / Saluga and Tomas Vrba as a freshly baked German citizen, this endgame went straight away with a lot of aggressiveness. The opening goal was not long in coming. After just under three minutes, captain Andreas Attenberger deflected a shot from Florian Mayer to 1-0. The guests, who needed a win by five goals difference for second place and thus the pre-playoffs, replied with their first good attack by Benedikt May to 1-1.
Otherwise, the River Rats didn't get much in this first third. Four suspensions against the guests ensured additional dominance of the ice pirates, who in turn stayed away until the penalty bench break. They had to plague themselves again and again with one man more. Highly deserved the 2-1 at number four when Timo Borrmann was spot on.
Back from the break, the guests put enormous pressure on. Now it was the turn of the ice pirates with the penalty times, but Geretsried could not do much with the numerical advantage. And if the ice pirates were in complete formation, they always came up with very good goal opportunities. However, in the 27th minute, the puck after Vrba's violent shot was only inches from the goal line. Things got really dangerous when Kroner and Vrba had to go to the penalty bench within 13 seconds. The river rats bit their teeth on their sharp sniper Stava on the powerful Andreas Tanzer. The 1-2 break was flattering to the guests in any case, because Miculka and Vrba could have given a calming lead for Dorfen.
That caught up with Miculka and Co. in the final third, but only after Tanzer had kept his team in the game, especially in the minority. On Lukas Miculkas 3: 1 May had an answer with the connecting goal. With a double strike within 19 seconds, Attenberger and Miculka shot the ESC on course for victory with their second goals. It wasn't enough for the happy ending.
Statistics:
Goals / assists: 1: 0 (3rd) Attenberger, (Mayer), 1: 1 (5th) May (Fuchs), 2: 1 (18th) Borrmann (Mayer, Miculka / 5-4), 3: 1 (47.) Miculka (Borrmann / 5-4), 3: 2 (54.) May (Berger, Köhler), 4: 2 (56.) Attenberger (Divine), 5: 2 (56.) Miculka (Kroner, Divine) - Chief Referee: Florian Storf - Penalty minutes: ESCD 20 / ESCG 18 + 10 (Stava) - Spectators: 350.