Severe setback for the ice pirates

ESC Dorfen's race to catch up has been stopped abruptly.

Dorfen – Actually, the puck hunters of the ESC Dorfen had flirted with reaching the eighth place, which still entitles them to participate in the championship round, after appealing performances in the past few weeks, with eleven points from the last four games.

The contender for the playoffs, ESC Geretsried, has now put a severe damper on the ice pirates.

Now the Ice Pirates are nine points behind, while the Riverrats are only two points away from eighth place.

On Friday evening in the Dr.-Rudolf-Halle, the Isartaler presented themselves as a real top team in a safe 5:1 victory and even earned some applause from the Dorfen spectators after the game for their convincing performance.

Geretsried's coach Hans Tauber stated that their plan, to put Dorfen under pressure immediately and not let them get into the game, worked out perfectly.

They had succeeded in doing so, confirmed Dorfen's coach Franz Steer without envy.

Although the hosts were able to field 21 field players and two goalkeepers for the first time, i.e. four more than the opponent, quality clearly controlled the game over quantity.

The Riverrats coach, who only took over at the beginning of November and has been showing the Isartaler's success curve upwards since then, saw the advantage of his team in a consistent outnumbered and effective power play game.

And even when conceding 1-2, his team showed good morale.

added Tauber in the press conference.

"We mostly left the neutral zone to the opponent," Steer regretted, adding: "Incomprehensible, because this tactic has always distinguished us."

Ultimately, the Dorfen coach also referred to two solo attempts in which "shots were taken everywhere, left and right, but just not on goal".

When asked whether the weather-related training cancellation on Wednesday played a role in his team's poor performance, Steer said that this should not excuse his team's inadequate performance.

And added: "As it looks now, we will have to adjust to the relegation round, and that means: we will run a lot before Christmas."