It will be tough: The EC Peiting will face the sovereign leader of the table (Selber Wölfe) on Friday and the third (Starbulls Rosenheim) on Sunday.
Peiting - In the last two league games, EC Peiting had to deal with opponents who were placed behind him in the table (Passau, Memmingen), both in their own hall.
At the third appearance in a row, the Peitinger now has a contrast program.
Today, Friday, the leader of the table, the Selber Wölfe, comes to the Pfaffenwinkel.
"For me, they are the hottest candidate for promotion," said ECP coach Sebastian Buchwieser about the Upper Franconia from the Fichtelgebirge.
The wolf pack was completely renewed before this season.
Coach Herbert Hohenberger formed from the numerous newcomers, especially Nick Miglio, a powerful group.
The US-American, who came from the upper division Halle, leads the scorer list of the upper division south with 51 points (30 goals, 21 assists).
So he puts Brad Snetsinger, who was also signed, far in the shade.
"Selb also signed up very good players," Buchwieser reports, referring to Luca Miculka (also from Halle) and Feodor Boiarchinov (came from the DEL2 club Lausitzer Füchse).
EC peiting has been left behind twice against Selb
In the two previous duels this season, the Wolves were twice ahead by a nose, but the ECP sold very dearly in the 4-5 defeat after extra time at home and the 5-7 in Selb.
"We got a few chances, and we used them," said Buchwieser, recalling the two games against the best underpaid team in the league.
Peiting doesn’t need to hide in second place in this ranking.
“The outnumbered game is currently working quite well,” said Buchwieser.
As far as the special teams are concerned, the Starbulls Rosenheim, where the ECP will be playing next Sunday, are more average.
"But they are also a candidate for promotion," says Buchwieser about the team that is being trained by his predecessor in Peiting, John Sicinski.
"A very compact team with one of the strongest foreign duos in the league," says Buchwieser, and the great respect for third in the table can be clearly heard.
As for the strengths and weaknesses of the opponent in the current season, Buchwieser can hardly contribute.
This is not surprising either, because the Peitinger have not yet played against Rosenheim this season.
The Buchwieser protégés had their last appearance to date in Rosenheim exactly a year ago - and with a 1: 7 it really went wrong.
“We usually have a hard time with the Starbulls,” admits Buchwieser.
Alex Winkler returns to the team
In terms of personnel, there is a little relaxation in his last defensive defense, as Alex Winkler is back on board.
Striker Ty Morris won't be able to intervene until next weekend.
It is not yet entirely clear how severe Dennis Neal's injury is.
"I have hope that I will see him on the ice again this season," said Buchwieser.
Peiting's coach hopes that his defender's shoulder injury may not be quite as bad as initially feared.
For the ECP trainer, however, one thing is clear: “This will be a rock-hard weekend.” His team then has Monday and Tuesday off.
The opponents at the weekend:
Your own wolves:
Friday, February 5th, 7.30 p.m., Peiting ice rink on Alfons-Peter-Straße.
Regarding the opponent:
Where the "Wolves of your own" are in the table, all the other teams also want to go: right at the top.
The Upper Franconia have only lost four of their 27 games so far.
With a 5-0 win over ECDC Memmingen, the Selbern recently achieved their 14th home win in a row.
Coach Herbert Hohenberger's team (Austria) has by far the best goal difference (+60) in the southern relay.
The top scorer is US-American Nicholas Miglio (shirt number 47) with 51 points (30 goals / 21 assists).
He also leads the league-wide table.
Selb is - just ahead of the ECP - the best team in penalty killing: In 105 situations that were outnumbered, the "wolves" only received 13 hits.
Starbulls Rosenheim:
Sunday, February 7th, 5 p.m., ROFA-Stadion Rosenheim an der Jahnstraße.
About the opponent:
The Peitinger and the "Starbulls" have not yet played against each other this season - Corona really creates special conditions.
Of the past seven games, the Rosenheimers lost only one (4: 5 against front runner Selb).
The "Starbulls" act very skillfully, with an average of only 7.8 penalty minutes per game they lead the fair play table.
In power play, they are only tenth among all southern teams with a rate of 16.3 percent (16 goals on 98 occasions).
The best scorers in third place are Kyle Gibbons (35 points / 21 goals / 14 assists), Tobias Meier (34 points / 16 goals / 18 assists) and Curtis Leinweber (34 points / 9 goals / 25 assists).
