Ice hockey: Wild Wings lose in their own hall against promoted Frankfurt
The past week could have been an extremely successful one for the Wild Wings, who celebrated two important away wins in the battle for the playoffs. On Wednesday, the Schwenningen team won 4-3 after extra time in Cologne, followed by a 3-2 win in Augsburg on Friday. The highlight should have been last night’s game against the promoted team from Frankfurt, who had just one point less before the game.
The problem with this: The Black Forest are a team with two faces. They won’t really get that warm this season with the Helios Arena. In the home table, the team of coach Harold Kreis occupies the penultimate place, away they are the third strongest team in the DEL. Accordingly, the duel with the Frankfurters began, where the SERC suffered a painful 2:5 defeat in the last game of 2022.
No hits in the first third
Schwenningen goalkeeper Joacim Eriksson was challenged several times in the early stages, but the hosts had the best chance when Tyson Spink hit the crossbar in the 6th minute. It’s going back and forth at high speed, with good chances at both ends. Alone, goals are not fielded in the first part of the game.
In the second third, however, the fans were compensated with five goals. The Wild Wings came out of the dressing room with a lot of energy and put the lions under a lot of pressure.
2:11 minutes were played when Tylor Spink poked the disc over the line from close range to make it 1-0, a little later Miks Indrasis failed in the power play at Frankfurt keeper Jake Hildebrand. Shortly thereafter, the Schwenninger lost the disc and in return were duped when Carson McMillan managed to equalize with a man down (26th).
And it got even worse for the hosts. In the 32nd minute, after a harmless shot by Ryan Olsen, the puck slipped past friend and foe through Ericsson’s Schöner to make it 1:2 into the Schwenningen goal.
Balance doesn’t last long
The lions acted now biting, the swans paralyzed the wings. Four minutes before the next period, Brandon DeFazio equalized to make it 2-2 with a deflected shot, but Carter Rowney put Frankfurt back in front for a short time (38′).
When Will Weber from Schwenningen had to go into the penalty box for stopping in the final section, the lions punished this. Outnumbered, Reece Scarlett pulled from the blue line and it was 2:4 (48th). Nothing was lost yet.
The fact that the people of Schwenningen also know how to play a successful power play was shown in the 51st minute when Ville Lajunen made it 3:4. The Swabians try everything, they take Eriksson out of the gate, but even with a majority, the equalizer didn’t want to come up.
But the SERC doesn’t have much time to get angry, the next important home game is already on the calendar for Tuesday. Against the rear light SC Bietigheim Steelers, the Schwenninger have another opportunity to improve the balance in their home arena.