The EC Peiting was on the right track: A win in the third game of the play-off quarter-finals was within reach.
Then the season ended abruptly.
Peiting
- It is 7:56 p.m. on Sunday when the EC Peiting season officially ends.
Kyle Gibbons pulls away, mercilessly slamming the puck into the mesh.
It is the goal to make it 5: 4, the game is already in overtime.
Gibbons sealed the third Rosenheim victory in a row.
The "Starbulls" have thus won the play-off quarter-finals of the ice hockey top division.
Peiting is out.
But the evening could have ended differently.
If it hadn't been for so many penalty minutes.
But from the beginning.
Because the game had quite a few reportable sections of the game.
The focus was not always on victory or defeat.
Six and a half minutes had been played, and moments of anxiety began.
Suddenly there was silence on the ice, worried looks went to the gang.
Tobias Draxinger had driven off the ice after a check and then collapsed.
While the Rosenheim defender was being treated, the referee interrupted the game and the teams disappeared into the dressing room.
After a short time there was the first all-clear: Draxinger was back, the game was over for him anyway - he was checked through.
Rosenheim player collapses: anxious minutes at the start of the game
The rest of the players continued.
When the score was 1-0 for Rosenheim.
At this point in time, the “Starbulls” did not hold the leadership entirely undeservedly.
Because after the start of the game it took just 16 seconds until Peiting's defender Fabian Weyrich held his stick in front of Tobias Meier's face - he had to go off the ice for two minutes.
The ECP survived the outnumbered unscathed, but was not long in five - because after almost three minutes Maximilian Söll went to the penalty box because of a delay in the game.
Rosenheim was now more consistent - Maximilian Vollmayer took the lead in the power play completely alone.
"That was two unnecessary penalties," said ECP captain Andreas Feuerecker after the first third in the SpradeTV interview.
"Our start was still okay."
Especially the part after the break.
In the 13th minute, Peiting built up pressure in the first superior number game, but Martin Mazanec, Simon Maier and Feuerecker failed.
The guests then used their second power play.
Fast forward - pass, pass, pass, then the puck landed at Ty Morris: Zack, 1: 1.
Peiting was back in the game.
Lead in the last third - but then it falls 4: 4
In the second third, the ECP continued to act lively and committed.
Alexander Winkler put his team in the lead with a shot from the blue line.
But the hero of the third was another Peitinger: Florian Hechenrieder.
The goalie brought the Rosenheimers to despair with his rescue deeds.
When Nardo Nagtzaam also served Martin Hlozek perfectly, he extended Peitinger's lead to 3: 1.
But then the ECP received two penalty minutes within a few seconds, the team weakened itself. Three Peitingers had little to oppose five Rosenheimers.
Gibbons shortened to 2: 3 with his forehand.
In the final section, Morris extended Peitinger's lead to 4-2 after just under four minutes.
Rosenheim's SpradeTV commentators were already preparing for a fourth quarter-final game.
But the final minutes can be long - especially when, like Peiting, you can't even muster three complete rows.
Perhaps that's why Alexander Höller's shot slipped through in the 52nd minute - and landed in the Peitinger box to make it 3: 4.
Exhaustion alone does not explain why Martin Mazanec hit his opponent with the racket shortly before the end - and forced his team to be outnumbered again just before the goal, victory.
It happened what happens when it comes to everything: Enrico Henriquez Morales scored the equalizer, the fourth Rosenheim goal - the third in the majority.
And led his team into overtime.
The one in which Peiting said goodbye to the summer break.
statistics
Starbulls Rosenheim - EC Peiting nV 5: 4
(1: 1, 1: 2, 2: 1, 1: 0)
1st third:
1: 0 (3:36) Vollmayer (Daxlberger / Gibbons / 5-4), 1st : 1 (17:07) Morris (Nagtzaam / Hlozek / 5-4).
.
2nd third:
1: 2 (27:05) Winkler (Feuerecker), 1: 3 (32:24) Hlozek (Nagtzaam), 2: 3 (33:34) Gibbons (Vollmayer / Baindl / 5-3).
Third third:
2: 4 (44:00) Morris (Feuerecker / Heger / 5-4), 3: 4 (51:42) Höller (Krumpf / Baindl), 4: 4 (58:22) Henriquez Morales (Baindl / Gibbons / 5-4).
Extra
time:
5: 4 (64:36) Gibbons (Meier / Frank)
Penalty minutes:
Peiting 10, Rosenheim 10.
Referee:
Harrer, Kapzan;
Blandin, Wagner.
Spectators:
none.