HC Erlangen captures first away win of the season in Ludwigshafen

It was the anticipated fiercely contested tussle between HC Erlangen and Ludwigshafen Owls on Thursday evening. The first-division club from Franconia picked up the gauntlet from the very first minute and won its first game on the road in the 2018/2019 season with a fine all-round team performance. Thanks to its emotion, fight and passion, the HC Erlangen ran out winners by 23:25 in the Friedrich Ebert Hall.

It was clear that both teams were nervous in the opening spell. HC Erlangen scored just three goals up to the 15th minute. However, its defense withstood the Owls repeatedly and so the home side only put four goals past Nikolas Katsigiannis. With the score at 4:3, the game picked up pace and also increased in roughness. Christoph Steinert forced his opponent to concede a two-minute penalty thanks to a plucky action in offense and Johannes Sellin reduced the deficit to 5:4 with his goal from the right wing. In the 20th minute, Stefan Salger saw the red card after a foul on Nikolai Link. Nevertheless, the club from the Palatinate was able to score a goal while short-handed and extend its lead to 6:4. Ludwigshafen’s rough play was again penalized by the two referees in the 22nd minute. Dippe stopped Büdel, striking him in the face while the latter was attempting a shot, and likewise saw the red card. The HC clawed its way back to tie the scores at 10:10 going in at half-time.

After the break, Steinert made it 10:11 from the backcourt to put HC Erlangen ahead for the first time. At the other end, keeper Nikolas Katsigiannis parried the throw from Durak and Link struck to make it 10:12. In the 33rd minute, European champion Sellin won possession in defense and sent Christopher Bissel on a quick break, which he finished commandingly. However, with Erlangen two men short, Ludwigshafen Owls made it 11:13, after which Müller cut the gap to just one (12:13). Christopher Bissel was likewise shown the red card after his third time penalty in the 38th minute and had to watch the game from the stands. Goal-getter Christoph Steinert limped off court with 20 minutes remaining and did not return. The HC now had three right-handers in attack – Mappes, Kellner and Büdel. Aðalsteinn Eyjólfsson called another timeout in the 47th minute to give his team a pep talk as the game entered crunch time. The more than 80 away fans who had made the journey to the Friedrich Ebert Hall vociferously fired their team on. Niko Link scored under time pressure to make it 17:18 and Nico Büdel stretched the gap to 17:19. HC Erlangen, who operated with just four backcourt players in the final quarter of an hour, played with zest in attack and so Nikolai Link chalked up his side’s first three-goal lead. However, Alexander Feld did not dither long and got the Owls back within striking distance (18:20). But captain Dominik Mappes kept his cool with his team short-handed and as good as sealed the game by making it 21:24. The final scoreline in the game in front of 2,142 spectators in the Friedrich Ebert Hall was 23:25.

Head Coach Aðalsteinn Eyjólfsson was pleased with his side’s performance: “I have to pay my team a big compliment today. The players kept their composure in a heated atmosphere and won thanks to their fight, passion and emotion.”