ECP Peiting: Return to the ice, but with a question mark
Created: 01/28/2022, 07:45
By: Roland Halmel
Two newcomers to the ECP: (from left) Lukas Motloch and Shane Heffernan trained on the ice with the team from Peiting for the first time on Tuesday evening.
Coach Anton Saal (right) celebrated his 36th birthday on this day.
© Roland Halmel
After a three-week break, EC Peiting is back in action in the Oberliga.
The team "is hot", reports coach Anton Saal.
Due to a few failures, however, he has to improvise again.
Peiting - Three weekends without games is a long time, especially in ice hockey - but now the dry spell for EC Peiting is over.
This Friday (8 p.m.) the ECP returns from the compulsory Corona break with the away game at ECDC Memmingen.
"The team is hot, the boys want to play again," says ECP coach Anton Saal - and admits a certain uncertainty: "Although we don't really know where we stand."
This is also due to the fact that he has to rebuild the individual rows due to failures, as he has done several times this season.
Florian Stauder suffered a muscle injury in training and has to take a break of one to two weeks.
Thomas Heger is not quite fit yet and needs some more time.
Saal does not expect long-term injuries Marco Habermann and Daniel Reichert until February.
At least there is a returnee in Simon Maier, who has recovered from his groin injury.
There are also two newcomers, Lukas Motloch and Shane Heffernan, who trained with the team for the first time on Saal's 36th birthday on Tuesday.
Peitinger home game on Sunday against EHF Passau
"Both make a very good impression and they are highly motivated," says Saal of the Czech defender and the Canadian attacker. The latter will be given preference this weekend as, as is well known, only two foreigners are allowed to play and Nardo Nagtzaam is seeded. The Dutchman – despite the long break with 48 points (15 goals/33 assists) is still the top scorer in the Oberliga Süd – should soon get a German passport (we reported). After that, both newcomers can be used at the same time.
"We currently have a higher need offensively, that's why Heffernan is playing," explains Saal before the appearance at the third party in Memmingen. The Allgäu also have to record one or the other corona-related failure. "Nevertheless, it's going to be a really tough nut to crack, because they're still strong and rightly so up there," says Saal. The people from Peiting have lost the previous three direct duels this season with 3:6.
On Sunday (6 p.m.) the home game against the “Black Hawks” of the EHF Passau is scheduled for the ECP – a much easier task on paper. “Passau recently beat Riessersee and scored against Deggendorf. They also want to do something against us," Saal warns against taking the tenth, who was on a Corona break for almost as long as the ECP, lightly. However, the Oberbayern defeated the Niederbayern twice this season.
"We have to make sure that we get going again right away," Saal hopes that his squad will start at a similar pace to the training on his birthday.
"I was surprised at how they stepped on the gas," said the coach, who, like his team, will be challenged over the next few weeks because there are numerous catch-up games to play.
Provided, of course, that Corona allows playing.
14 games in four weeks are scheduled.
