Routine beats enthusiasm

Created: 12/26/2022, 7:00 p.m

By: Helmut Findelsberger

Joint rescue operation: Villagers (from right) Urban Sodja, goalkeeper Maxi Englbrecht and Benedikt Dietrich stop Nicolas Baur from Königsbrunn.

© Dominik Findelsberger

Unconditional commitment on the part of the ice pirates against high art of ice hockey among the penguins.

Dorfen – In the end, ESC Dorfen had to admit defeat to EHC Königsbrunn 2:4 (1:2, 1:2, 0:0) on Friday evening.

In the first two periods of the game, the penguins were at least one goal better.

In the last third "we almost played for a goal", summed up Franz Steer after the game.

The Dorfen coach was able to summon 21 men.

Only 13 plus 2 were on the game report at Königsbrunn, but there was a lot of great class on the ice.

Marco Sternheimer, who ended his remarkable DEL career in Augsburg at the age of 24 in favor of a teaching degree, Tim Bullnheimer, who is a year younger, also briefly in the Augsburg DEL squad and came from the Oberliga club Memmingen, and 27-year-old Max Lukes, 318 DEL2 games for Kaufbeuren and Bietigheim formed a storm line - and what a line.

In addition, there are experienced warhorses like 41-year-old Jeff Szwez, with 141 DEL and 118 DEL2 appearances under his belt.

The ice pirates had to throw everything into the scales to counteract this.

At the first penalty time there was a lesson in power play with the 1-0 for the penguins by Gustav Veisert (9th).

The 26-year-old top defender was born in Ukraine, has been in Germany since 2010 and has the experience of 226 DEL2 appearances.

The ESC fought its way into the game with a strong keeper Maxi Englbrecht and also had some good chances to score.

64 seconds later, Urban Sodja scored the 2-0 lead by Bullnheimer (17th).

A few minutes after the restart, the Swabians sobered up the ice pirates with a double strike within 76 seconds by Szwez and Lukes.

Sodja with his second goal (28th) then opened an open exchange of blows.

The physical intensity also increased again.

Even referees as experienced and among the best in their field as Robert Paule and Fabian Reinold had their hands full and some decisions were not easy.

That's how it went into the final third, in which the ice pirates incessantly but unsuccessfully stormed the goal of EHC goalkeeper Markus Kring, especially in the last ten minutes.

Despite the win, guest coach Bobby Linke didn't want to be overly euphoric, "even though I'm happy about the three points.

But we wanted to get out of a game without any further injuries, but we are currently on a roll in that relationship.” The 38-year-old, who is now playing his first season in Königsbrunn after five seasons in Ulm/Neu-Ulm, counted as Absences in this game were defender David Farny ("He's already in the Erdinger hospital with a broken collarbone") and Marco Sternheimer, who went to the dressing room early a few minutes before the end.

"We've been banging around with a squad of 12 or 13 men for weeks, and I can't rate the performance of my team highly enough," emphasized Linke in conclusion.

ESC trainer Franz Steer saw "what I wanted to see: the team worked hard for over 60 minutes".

He simply confirmed that Königsbrunn was more effective in front of goal.

"We didn't have that many chances to score, but we almost played for a goal in the last third.

Then Vrba gets a penalty after he drives around the goal under pressure from the opponent and catches the goalkeeper after he was pushed into it," said Steer.

Although he had a well-filled squad at his disposal, he had to do without a player.

"Christoph Obermaier was now on the right track after a long break, and then he unfortunately slipped into the rink in training, and the season is over for him with the shoulder injury," reported the ESC trainer.

"Too bad, the boy is so alright."

statistics

also read

TV reporter Willi Weitzel attacked

READ

The Last Tsunami Missing Person

READ

Avalanche: Munich dies on the Wilder Kaiser

READ

Tears at the first game: Burunc becomes a referee at the age of 48 – “recommend it to everyone”

READ

"Lie somewhere in the middle"

READ

Fancy a voyage of discovery?

My space

Goals/assists: 0: 1 (9th) Veisert (Lukes, Szwez/5-4), 0: 2 (17th) Bullnheimer (Sternheimer, Lukes), 1: 2 (18th) Sodja (Kirsch, Susanj), 1: 3 (23rd) Szwez (Veisert, Lukes), 1: 4 (24th) Lukes (Veisert), 2: 4 (28th) Sodja (Wiedenhofer, Kirsch) – spectators: 128 – HSR: Fabian Reinold, Robert Paule – penalty minutes: Dorfen 14, Königsbrunn 8