The top meeting in the DEL 2 ended disappointingly for Frankfurt: Against Dresden, some newly formed lions lost 1:4.

Frankfurt – Following a top meeting that was disappointing for the Frankfurt Lions, there was at least an opportunity for a few warm words from a hopeful who had returned home. “It’s a coming home, it feels very good,” said Brett Breitkreuz in an interview with the online channel Sprade-TV, when the last siren of Tuesday evening had just faded away. Whereby the good feeling in general is due to the renewed engagement of the only darling of the public on the Ratsweg and less to the moment. Clear words for the 1: 4 (1: 0, 0: 2, 0: 2) home defeat against the Dresdner Eislöwen and striker Breitkreuz, which had just become certain: “Dresden was a step better,” he admitted, “better better at forechecking, better in the defensive zone, better on special teams.”

You could leave it that way, which is why Andreas Brockmann was able to draw a proud balance sheet on the other side. “We played an excellent game over 60 minutes,” said the Dresden coach. It was an unusual evening for the guests from Saxony: They hadn’t won in Frankfurt for a long time, and they were the first to appear in the second-class table of German ice hockey – which was of course somewhat distorted due to the many corona failures – for a guest appearance also a rare honor.

At the same time, the ice lions were a visit to the ice rink on Ratsweg that had not been seen in such a long time, where most of the guests barricaded themselves in front of their goal and tried their luck in counterattacks. However, the Dresdeners played along happily and were the better team for long stretches.

“Especially in the second third we weren’t good enough. Overall we just have to be better than we were today,” acknowledged Löwen head coach Bo Subr. He had reshuffled his ranks a little with the return of Breitkreuz and the signing of Nathan Burns. Breitkreuz attacked with Rylan Schwartz and Dylan Wruck, Burns with Ryon Moser and Alexej Dmitriev.

“It’s a process of finding how we can best incorporate the new players, who fits together best,” explained sporting director Franz-David Fritzmeier. “But something will definitely change.” Everything didn’t really fit together, on the contrary – even if the lions didn’t start the game badly and were 1-0 ahead after the first third of a top game that was still right and good quality. “We have to see that we keep playing like this,” warned goal scorer Kevin Maginot and recalled the 2-1 win after extra time on Sunday against EC Bad Nauheim: “The second third wasn’t our best either.”

What was to be repeated, however, and this time the lions did not come back. Maximilian Kolb (24′), Tomas Andres (37′), Johan Porsberger (43′) and Timo Walther (60′) turn the game around for the Dresdeners, who are becoming increasingly stable and structured, biting and determined and overall perhaps the best so far guest of the previous season in Frankfurt. While the domestic lions lacked exactly these qualities twice. “Tomorrow is free, then we’ll prepare for the next game,” says Brett Breitkreuz: EC Bad Tölz is coming on Friday evening (7:30 p.m.). “Then,” Breitkreuz knew, “we’ll have to find a way to win again.”