Erlangen loses to Ludwigshafen Owls

HC Erlangen lost its home game to Ludwigshafen Owls on Thursday evening. After an evenly matched first half, Erlangen lost its grip on the game in the second half and so finally went down to a 23:27 defeat.

The HC Erlangen suffered a piece of bad news going into the game: Co-captain Nikolai Link was forced to withdraw at short notice after suffering a ligament injury in his foot in the final training session and so was only able to support his teammates from the stands. The home side therefore went into the encounter on the 25th game day with a weakened team – and it in particular lacked alternatives in its inner block due to fact that Link was missing. However, Petter Overby and Sebastian Firnhaber plugged that gap very well to begin with. The HCE defend the visitors’ first attack without any problems, while Petter Overby exploited his side’s first chance to put it 1:0 ahead. The two referees punished rough play from the outset, handing out a total of seven time penalties in the first half. However, both teams tussled for every ball, even when short-handed, with the result that neither was able to open up a lead until the 10th minute (5:5). After Erlangen conceded several turnovers and missed a number of chances, the visitors from the Palatinate produced a 4:0 run to pull 5:9 in front in the 20th minute and force the HC’s Head Coach Rolf Brack to call a timeout. However, goals by Büdel, Sellin and Schäffer helped the home side catch up and go in at the break trailing by the narrow margin of 11:12.

After the restart, it took Christopher Bissel 40 seconds to tie the scores at 12:12, but Pascal Durak struck back with a goal on the second wave. HC Erlangen was then unable to unlock its opponents’ defense for almost ten minutes. Mistakes as it built its moves and a weak goal haul gave the Owls the opportunity to move 13:19 in front by the 40th minute. Jan Schäffer put the crowd out of its misery to make it 14:19 from the crease and end his side’s barren spell. However, the club from Franconia was also unable to shift into gear in the remaining 20 minutes. Two goals in a row by Johannes Sellin to make it 17:20 in the 45th kindled hope among the fans, but by the latest when Sebastian Firnhaber saw the red card with five minutes to go and Jerome Müller then extended the lead to 21:26, the game was over and done. HC Erlangen ended up losing its home game against the Owls by 23:27.

“The defeat today was a bitter blow for us. We didn’t play with our usual strength in attack or defense. Now we need to remedy the mistakes quickly and turn in a better display in the next two games,” said Rolf Brack in the post-game press conference.

The club from Franconia faces two challenges next week. The first is on the road at third-placed SC Magdeburg on Tuesday. Just two days later, on March 5, HC Erlangen welcomes Bergischer HC to the ARENA NÜRNBERGER Versicherung.