Thomas Elsenberger: Strong preliminary round, bad luck in "Russian Roulette"

Created: 01/13/2022, 1:00 PM

From: Dieter Priglmeir

Fourth: Thomas Elsenberger (kneeling, left) and his colleagues from Saßbach.

© Private

The main thing is to have achieved the DM qualification - that's how Thomas Elsenberger sees it.

It is still a shame that his team was eliminated in the semi-finals after the extremely strong preliminary round.

Rain

- "It was like in the European Cup," says Thomas Elsenberger.

With the EC Saßbach he marched through the Bundesliga preliminary round, prevailing in the second and quarter finals.

However, two defeats ensured that his team just missed the podium.

Nevertheless, the 47-year-old Hörlkofener was satisfied because the ECS qualified for the German championship on January 28th and 29th in Ruhpolding.

“I've been playing for Sassbach for 17 years, and so far we've always been with the Germans,” he says and adds.

"Nobody else has managed that up to now." Former champion EC Grub, for example, did not even compete in the Bundesliga this year.

For two days 28 marshes had dueled in the rain.

That meant 13 duels in the 14-team preliminary round, in which Elsenberger and Co. suffered only two defeats and ended up in first place.

Even before FC Penzing, who ultimately became the new Bundesliga champion, but had no chance in the preliminary round against Saßbach.

Elsenberger: "We played consistently and forced the mistakes on our opponents - like in the European Cup."

But you can't buy anything from the five point lead over the runners-up in the playoffs, which are played as a double game with twelve turns (Elsenberger: "Russian Roulette").

"You get a supposedly easier opponent from the other group, but the density is very high at this level," he says.

The TSV Buchbach felt this particularly.

In the preliminary round with only one defeat by the dominator of Group A, the end of the last sixteen came against Breitbrunn.

The TSV was still able to qualify for the DM via the consolation round.

For Saßbach, too, things went badly at first.

"After the first three bends we were 0:13 behind against Aigen," says the Hörlkofener.

Ultimately, the favorite turned the game (26:22).

In the quarter-finals against Passau-Neustift, Saßbach suffered a short period of weakness after a strong start, only to win 37:21.

Then followed the defeats in the semifinals against Penzing (21:24) and in the small final against FC Ottenzell (19:22).

"Sounds close, but it wasn't," admits Elsenberger.

In both games, Saßbach was hopelessly behind early on and at the end only made cosmetic results.

That leaves only fourth place.

"We would have liked to become Bundesliga champions again," says the high school teacher.

“But whether second, third or fourth - that doesn't matter.” Fourth place won him more in the European Cup.

He would have liked to go home with a bronze medal.

 I do think we can play at the highest level for another 15 years.

Thomas Elsenberger on the future of the EC Saßbach

Above all, the DM qualification counts, where Thomas Elsenberger, Matthias Kobler, Werner Anetzberger as well as Christian and Markus Reschauer have every chance.

Here, too, what counts: “You always need a little luck.

In the semifinals, Penzing had the stick in twice by an inch, we had it outside.

That makes ten points. "

And then there would still be the venue: The DM rises in the cold stadium of Ruhpolding, which Elsenberger clearly prefers to the relatively warm conditions and the soft ice in the rain.

This time, however, it was not as blatant as the target shooting (we reported), "although it is not so crucial in the team competition anyway".

Saßbach was last champion two years ago.

The quintet in their mid-forties would like to repeat that.

Elsenberger assures everyone that they are all in the best age for stick shooting, "I think we can still play at the highest level for 15 years." So they are not running out of time.

But they would have no objection to a quick success in Ruhpolding.

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