Two overpowered hits, a double pack from Lubor Dibelka and a fantastic backdrop. The Tölzer Löwen shoot in front of almost 3000 spectators with a 3: 1 success over the EC Bad Bauheim in the master playoffs.
Even the remaining chance of fourth place and thus the home right stands for Sunday. No wonder that stadium announcer Dino Garassi in his exuberance considered the entire team in the election for the player of the evening. When Shawn Weller pushed the puck with the final siren into the empty Nauheimer crate, all the dams in the stands broke. This was the case with guest coach Christof Kreuzer a few moments earlier. In the negative sense, of course. Shortly before salvation, Kreuzer rebuilt himself against the referees, even after the game was over, the referees were the impartial targets for those responsible from the Wetterau. Kreuzer's morose mood was rounded off by complaining about the delayed start of the press conference in his view and a self-imposed vow of silence during this question-and-answer session.
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It didn't matter to the Tölzer. The celebrations about the greatest success in recent club history
had started long ago. Only the tiresome story with the scarce defender material stuck to the lions. Manuel Edfelder was able to emerge without a noticeable inhibition after a short break in training, but Beppi Eberhardt caught the flu wave. So it remained with the emergency plan with Philipp Schlager, which some fans immediately identified as a better defensive player, and of course DNL youngster Maxi Leitner, who did not notice the alleged stage fright. The 18-year-old delivered a calm and flawless game. There is a lot of potential in Leitner that must be further formulated in the coming years. "Very cool in front of so many spectators," said Gaudet.
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The fact that the lions had to fear for the historical event until the end was primarily due to Nauheim's goalkeeper Felix Bick. He did not let any attempts by the home side happen with equal team strength, moreover sprinkled in fine reflexes, such as the rescue deed with a rowing arm when Bick was lying on the ground and Tyler McNeely actually had free rein with the lupfer. And because Nauheim's Marc El-Sayed cut it out of nowhere to 1: 2 early in the final third. "We had a lot of opportunities, but we didn't take enough," said the coach. But the Buam also did a lot of things right in principle, giving the statistically offensive always somewhat braked guests no room for grippy conclusions, which was clearly reflected in the shooting ratio of 12: 3, moreover, the yellow-blacks were mostly in the possession of targets. Max French missed the margin after nine minutes in front of Bick, and Bick also brought a piece of his equipment to Schlager and Shawn Weller.
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The decision was based on the same knitting pattern: Tölz circled in large numbers until the diagonal pass on Dibelka and its direct shot was possible. Great played and very difficult to defend. A bang for the post further enhanced Dibelka's performance diagnostics. The lions briefly had to tremble at the solemn moment because the Hessians suddenly resisted. "It was a fight for everything," commented Gaudet.
Tölzer Löwen - EC Bad Nauheim 3: 1 (1: 0, 1: 0, 1: 1)
Goals: 1: 0 (17:32) Dibelka (Sedlmayr, MacKenzie 5-4), 2: 0 (35:15) Dibelka (MacKenzie, Pfleger 5-4), 2: 1 (46:23) El-Sayed ( Combs, Gnyp), 3: 1 (59:59) Weller (Dibelka, French ENG). - Penalty minutes: Bad Tölz 10, Bad Nauheim 16 + 20 (abuse. V. Officials). - Referee: Altmann / Bauer. - Spectators: 2989.