The second lion prank | Lowen Frankfurt
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OfMarkus Katzenbach
conclude
The Frankfurt favorites also win the first quarter-final guest appearance in Freiburg.
Freiburg -Adam Mitchell kept track. There was still one and a half minutes to play on Friday evening when the tried and tested manager of the Frankfurter Löwen passed the puck in front of the goal of the Freiburg Wolves, which had been orphaned in desperate efforts to equalize, into which his colleague Brett Breitkreuz only had to push it – and this play-off game, which deservedly resulted in a happy ending for the guests anyway, was finally decided. The championship and promotion candidates in the second class of German ice hockey in Freiburg won 4: 1 (2: 0, 1: 1, 1: 0), in front of a maximum of 2100 spectators allowed under the local Corona rules, including around 150 Löwen- fans.
“We are very happy with the way we were able to manage the game today,” praised head coach Bo Subr. With their goals, Mitchell (6th minute), Davis Vandane (19th), Nathan Burns (26th) and Breitkreuz (59th) with only one goal scored by Patrick Kurz (30th) ensured the second Frankfurt victory in the second game the quarterfinal series. Four of them are needed to move on to the semi-finals, next opportunity: on Sunday (6.30 p.m.), then back at home in the ice rink on Ratsweg. The Frankfurt special forces in numbers and numbers, over the main round already the quota best in the league, once again played a certain role.
“The special teams were very important to us today,” said Coach Subr. “Especially in the penalty kill, we had very good energy.” The lions use at least one of two power play opportunities, through Vandane’s slap shot. And they survived four two-minute penalties against each other without scoring. Also an early one for Mitchell, who then, barely back on the ice from the forced break, used a clever cross pass from Dylan Wruck to make it 1-0.
Even without the ailing Bobby Raymond and Ryon Moser, the best team in the DEL-2 main round was able to compete with full and well-occupied ranks, and they lived up to their role as favourites. “We were very good in the first section,” said Subr, but he wasn’t entirely satisfied with the second act. “We had a few unnecessary puck losses,” he knew, but: “But we found a way to defend well again.” And to score again himself: Nathan Burns scored to make it 3-0 before Freiburg punished one of the few negligences in the Löwen defense.
More was not allowed, not even in the third third. “It was another battle. We were happy that we managed to limit it to one goal overall,” said Subr. In fact, the Frankfurters largely retained control, thanks to concentrated defensive work – before Breitkreuz then made everything clear.
“It can still be a long series,” emphasized the lion coach before the next meeting on Sunday, but announced for this date: “We want to be ready to get the next win then.” In this case, the series could already be decided on Tuesday – then it’s back to Freiburg, which the lions left happily late Friday evening.