A two-goal lead after a third of the season is usually not even half the battle in ice hockey.
Königsbrunn/Dorfen – The ice pirates, who are currently so decimated, were not spared this not new experience in the 2:3 (2:0, 0:2, 0:1) defeat at EHC Königsbrunn on Friday evening.
"With luck there will be 14 field players for tomorrow," ESC department head Manfred Detterbeck speculated at the general meeting on Thursday.
It turned out to be 15 men and thus three blocks of five, but the bottom line was that nine regular players were missing.
But there weren’t more players on the hosts’ side either.
The only difference was that with the second in the table, everything was there with the exception of Tim Bullnheimer.
So it was not surprising that from the beginning the events mostly took place in the third of the ice pirates.
But it was defended wisely and disciplined, so the penguins didn't often get shots.
And then there was Max Englbrecht in Dorfener Tor, who fought a private duel with top scorer Marco Sternheimer and was always the winner until the break.
The 24-year-old striker ended his DEL career in Augsburg because he was studying to become a teacher and is certainly overqualified for the Bayernliga.
But Dorfen still went into the first break with a 2-0 lead.
First, outnumbered, Christoph Hradek stormed up and away after losing a puck in Königsbrunn in the Dorfen third.
Laid down by goalkeeper Marcus Kring, the 26-year-old coldly turned the penalty into his first ever scorer point in ESC kit.
When curling, one would say “starved to death”.
So the puck rolled into the EHC third after a liberation.
But Sandro Schroepfer stormed behind and heaved the “Goal of the Month” puck from the left face-off point to the right corner of the cross to make it 2-0 with four field players each on the ice.
But how won, so lost.
After another 20 minutes of play, the scoreboard was 2:2.
48 seconds were completed in the middle third when Sternheimer scored after an irresistible solo run.
Königsbrunn increased the number of strokes again.
Dorfen held out for 13 minutes, then Jeffrey Szwez scored to make it 2-2.
It was foreseeable that this defensive battle would sooner or later cost the ice pirates too much strength.
But Königsbrunn also dropped noticeably in the final third.
However, it was enough for the winning goal – again by a defender.
22-year-old Max Petzold was the goalscorer, assisted by Jeffrey Szwez (41) and Strehler (34).
The imbalance in the penalties with 14 minutes against the ice pirates and only two against the penguins - and that was a bench penalty in the first third - of course did the rest.
One or the other promising offensive action was still recorded.
But Königsbrunn knew how to effectively take ESC top scorer Urban Sodja out of the game.
statistics
Goals/assists: 0: 1 (15th) Hradek (P), 0: 2 (18th) Schroepfer (F. Kanzelsberger, Folger/4-4), 1: 2 (21st) Sternheimer (Veisert, Häckelsmiller), 2: 2 (34th) Szwez (Petzold, Farny), 3: 2 (53rd) Petzold (Szwez, Strehler) – Spectators: 444 – HSR: Maximilian Reitz – Penalty minutes: Königsbrunn 2, Dorfen 14
