Tölzer Löwen: falling into old patterns

Created: 01/13/2023, 23:53

By: Nick Scheder

Lucky – this time: Sergei Topol's shot barely grazed Josef Hölzl's goal.

But the Memmingen veteran already gave the Tölzer Löwen two goals in the 2:5 defeat.

© Patrick Star

Tölzer Löwen lose the key game against Memmingen 2:5 and swap places with the Indians.

Bad Tölz - That's it then: The preliminary decision on the direct play-off participation for the Tölzer Löwen has probably been made.

With the sixth defeat in a row, they also lost the key game against pursuers Memmingen with 2:5 and swapped places in the Oberliga table with the Allgäu.

The gap to EC Peiting, who is sixth, is 8 points with 14 games to go before the end of the preliminary round.

Feasible, but not like Friday night.

Falling into old patterns

The Tölzer gave up a 2-0 lead against the Indians after a good start.

0:3 goals in the second third, then they let a five-minute overpower situation pass without their own goal in the third - and conceded two more goals in a well-known and long-fought pattern.

Lost disc, counterattack, puck in the net.

"We discussed it before the game, wanted to avoid it," says Lions coach Ryan Foster.

"And unfortunately that's exactly what happened again."

Catching up could have been avoided

They tried, no reproach for lack of commitment.

But the race to catch up in the final section was unnecessary because it could have been prevented by consistent defense or by avoiding mistakes.

And it was fruitless because the shots often came too out of place on Marco Eisenhut's box, too harmlessly, or were blocked in the end.

Good first third

The lions got off to a good start and were wide awake.

They put pressure on, disrupted early on, and in the first power play situation, Erik Gollenbeck simply took aim – 1:0.

Memmingen pressed, Tölz countered - and scored again.

Sören Sturm sent Tyler Ward and Ludwig Nirschl on the journey, the two cheerfully exchanged the disc back and forth, played Memmingen dizzily, Ward finished.

Nirschl, who wasn't quite his old self when he made his comeback, still brought in the pace, repeatedly played short, clever passes or went to the goal himself.

Game tilts in the second section

Quite different in the second third, when the hosts fell back into old patterns and let the Indians come.

When the penalty was announced, Andrew Johnston was allowed to circle in front of Hölzl undisturbed, Sergei Topol reduced the penalty to 1:2 in the follow-up shot.

And a little later, with Tölzer outnumbered, Matej Pekr passed the disc just in front of Josef Hölzl's bat to the rushing Peter Donat, who only had to push in.

2-2, and it got worse.

pain and the blow to the neck

Although the lions reported back in the game, Nirschl, Niklas Hörmann and Tyler Ward missed good opportunities.

But the lions lost track in a game that became more hectic.

Dillon Eichstadt lost the puck in four-on-four attack, the Löwen couldn't get them out of harm's way afterwards, and just as Nirschl came back from the penalty box, Maxi Menner made it 3-2 for Memmingen.

After the third break, the Tölzers were in the majority for more than five minutes.

But there was a lack of yield and efficiency.

And probably also defender Sören Sturm, who had to leave the ice with a sore shoulder in a crash against the gang.

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Pain on the ice too: Memmingen pulled away to 4:2 during the Tölz pressure phase when Sergei Topol scored immediately after winning the face-off.

"That was the blow in the neck," says Foster.

Pascal Dopatka completed another counterattack to make it 5:2.

"Now the disappointment is already there," says the lion trainer.

"But we didn't want the win as much as Memmingen."

Toelz Löwen - Memmingen 2: 5 (2: 0, 0: 3, 0: 2)

Goals: 1: 0 (1:45) Gollenbeck (Huard/Ward, 5-4), 2: 0 (6:34) Ward (Nirschl/Sturm, 4-4), 2: 1 (25:35) Topol ( Johnston/Pfalzer), 2-2 (27:26) Peter (Pekr/Hafenrichter, 5-4), 2-3 (39:46) Menner (Johnston/Svedlund, 4-5), 2-4 (49:00 ) Topol (Menner/Marsall), 2:5 (57:16) Dopatka (Pfalzer/Meisinger), – penalty minutes: Tölz 14, Memmingen 16, – referees: Ruben Kapzan/Dominic Erdle, – spectators: 1090.