Fireworks for the comeback | Lowen Frankfurt
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fromMarkus Katzenbach
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Adam Mitchell’s lion return couldn’t have gone any better. The restart of the old captain in the 6-0 win against Freiburg raises hopes – and anticipation of the continuation.
Frankfurt – Adam Mitchell made his first appearance as a privacy screen, and he did that very successfully. Less than three minutes were played when he got in front of Luis Benzing and blocked the view of the young goalkeeper of the Freiburg Wolves – which is why he had little chance of deflecting Kyle Sonnenburg’s shot. Which was just one of three early bangs that started the comeback of their former captain for the Frankfurter Löwen, and it should also have a good ending. After the last siren on Friday evening, the championship and promotion candidate from the second class of German ice hockey scored a clear 6: 0 (3: 0, 1: 0, 2: 0) against tenth place Freiburg and Adam Mitchell a comeback that was hardly better could have succeeded.
“Mitchy is an absolute leader. He has the experience and can still teach us so much. He did a great job today,” praised defender Marius Erk, not without emphasizing: “But above all, the whole team was in a great mood.”
The Frankfurters had found their way to success very early on. With Nathan Burns, another January commitment met in the second minute, incidentally after preparatory work by Brett Breitkreuz, like Mitchell a prominent lion returnee. The former captain already had two scorer points in his account after a good five minutes because he had his racket in play before his sight protection at Sonnenburg’s goal and at Rylan Schwartz’s goal (6th) to make it 3-0. In his first game since suffering a shoulder injury in March, the 39-year-old German-Canadian looked like he had never been away.
“He played cleverly, got into the game well. He has the eye and has his head up,” praised sports director Franz-David Fritzmeier during the break after a first third, which at least initially was a single lion firework and also one spontaneous guest in the VIP room of the ice rink on Ratsweg, which is otherwise still not accessible to spectators due to the Corona regulations, impressed. “That’s very strong for a second division,” praised Robert Reichel, a former NHL superstar and legend from the Frankfurt Lions days.
Adam Mitchell played his part, not least with some clever passes. He also harmonized equally well with his teammates Schwartz and Dylan Wruck, who later prepared Kevin Maginot’s 4:0 (37th) in an otherwise somewhat flat game – before Breitkreuz (58th) and Max Faber (59th) provided the clear final score . With his leadership and playful class, Mitchell could be the missing piece in the lion puzzle, after recent inconsistent performances in Frankfurt with frequent jamming in attack and negligence in defense.
Even after such a strong re-entry after such a long break, one or the other fluctuation naturally still follows, but sports director Fritzmeier was able to make a first Mitchell verdict after the first third of satisfied cases. “He did well for the series with Schwartz and Wruck and also brings playing quality to it,” he continued. “Training and games are always different, but so far he has been very good for us.” How things will continue in the long final sprint of the main round in the next few weeks is uncertain, apart from the visit to the Heilbronner Falcons on Sunday (5 p.m.). Because of the catch-up dates required by the many Corona game cancellations, the DEL-2 clubs have agreed to adjust the calendar. Exactly how will be clear at the weekend. Either way: In the case of Mitchell, the new beginning has been made – and anticipation of the sequel aroused.