Bad Tölz - Kevin Gaudet never tires of lamenting the unbelievable injury misery that has plagued the lions for months.
"I thought it was unique in my coaching career to have to play the playoffs with only two and a half rows," he said, looking back on the four playoffs against Ravensburg last April.
"But now it's even worse."
This Friday, the DEL 2 is playing the fifth game of the season, and the boys have already written five failures.
When the Buam compete against EC Bad Nauheim this evening (7.30 p.m.), Gaudet can at least make out two bright spots: Striker Grant Besse put away the brutal check from Brock Maschmeyer better than initially thought - no concussion, and the neck held it Loads in training.
Marcus Götz is out until mid-December
On the defensive there is a change between hospital and ice rink: Dominic Bohac, who tore his back while cleaning up a weight plate in the weight room, is returning;
but Marcus Götz will be out with a broken finger (and operated on Wednesday) until mid-December.
"It's unbelievable crap," Gaudet quarrels, "I've never seen such bad luck."
Nevertheless, the coach's full concentration is now on the first Friday home game of the season against the Red Devils.
They are also currently suffering from long-term failures: Patrick Seifert (adductors) and Marc El-Sayed (heart muscle inflammation) as well as the ex-Tölzer Andreas Pauli, who sustained a deep cut in his hand against the Lausitzer Füchse.
But there is reinforcement from Cologne: Funding license player Michael Bartuli will storm in the Nauheim jersey.
DEL crack Kevin Schmidt leads the Nauheim defense
Otherwise, the Hessians have completely renewed the squad. After the lowest point average and the most goals conceded since the DEL 2 promotion in 2013 as well as the weakest away record of all 14 two-tier clubs, Harry Lang - promoted from assistant to head coach in February - recruited twelve new ones - six alone for the shaky defense, which is now from former DEL crack Kevin Schmidt. Schmidt comes from the multinational ICE Hockey League as do the two contingent strikers Taylor Vause and Jerry Pollastrone. "With them, Nauheim has signed two top players," said Gaudet. The young Canadian Tristan Keck, who scored 15 goals in 14 games for Coventry in the British elite league, is still largely unknown in Europe. “He's the fastest player in DEL 2,” the Löwen trainer observed while studying video.And he still knows where the goal is: the 26-year-old has scored four times in four games.
Red devils get few penalties
“Overall, Nauheim has achieved a lot of quality.
It's a fast, extremely dangerous team, ”says Gaudet.
“We have to make quick changes against them in order to conserve our strength.” The coach has discovered another quality feature of the Wetterauer: “They take very few penalties.
So we have to take even less. ”The coach allows his staff a maximum of two penalty times.
"Because with four defenders it is difficult to run after a deficit." Gaudet also wants to use the match plan from the successful Heilbronn game (3: 2) against the ECN: play defensively, stay out of the penalty box and win just about.
"And please no more injuries," he implores the ice hockey god.
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