HC Erlangen loses 33:29 in the quarter-final of the DHB Cup

HC Erlangen put up a great fight, but ultimately succumbed to TSV Hannover-Burgdorf in the quarter-final of the DHB Cup. In a tight game, HC Erlangen was not able to defeat last year’s finalists and advance to the Final Four, despite a good performance in attack.

The visitors from Hanover got off to the better start and went 3:1 ahead after four minutes. The club from Franconia was visibly nervous in the opening spell. However, it then got into the game after initial difficulties in building its plays. Nico Büdel won a seven-meter penalty and Christoph Steinert clinically buried it in the net (3:2). The “Warriors” from Hanover kept on fighting their way to the crease and often scored through Brozovic in the opening minutes. Erlangen reduced the deficit to 5:4 and shortly after that Katsigiannis made a save and then sent Johannes Sellin away on a fast break to tie the scores at 6:6. It was again Brozovic who put the home side 8:7 in front, but the visitors struck back right away with a seven-meter penalty. The HCE went 8:9 ahead in the 15th minute when Overby stole possession and Nikolai Link scored. While their opponents were short-handed, the “Warriors” opened up a slight gap (12:10). With ten minutes left in the first half, the HC’s Head Coach Aðalsteinn Eyjólfsson called a timeout to recalibrate his team’s tactics. However, the home side repeatedly managed to score from the wings or the crease. Goals by Haaß and Mappes closed the gap to 13:12, but right after that HC Erlangen conceded another two-minute penalty. The club from Franconia missed the chance to tie the encounter at 13:13 when Christoph Steinert failed to convert a penalty, after which Hanover went down the other end and scored (14:12). Sellin also missed from the seven-meter line a little later, with the result that the HC went in at half-time trailing by 16:14.

After the break, the home side stretched its lead to 17:14 with a goal from Olsen. On the next attack, the referees adjudged that Steinert had committed an offensive foul, which enabled Hanover to immediately chalk up its 18th goal. Büdel got his team off the mark in the second half to reduce the deficit to 18:15. However, Erlangen was hardly able to get a grip on its opponents in defense. Olsen repeatedly put his teammates through and Gorazd Skof was also not able to get into the game after being brought on. Nikolas Katsigiannis was put between the posts again in the 40th minute and, right after two saves in a row, held the seven-meter penalty from Kastening. Andreas Schröder cut the gap to 22:20, but Brozovic was unstoppable at the crease and restored the three-goal lead. The visitors’ slow approach attack worked very well and Schröder pulled one back after a pass by Büdel (24:22). Unfortunately, HC Erlangen failed to reproduce one of the outstanding aspects of its play in past weeks to the satisfaction of its Head Coach: “We seldom managed to prevent passes at the crease. Hanover was clever in attack and often scored from the wings or crease,” said Aðalsteinn Eyjólfsson afterwards. That was also the reason why HC Erlangen was no longer able to close the gap to less than two goals. With ten minutes remaining, Büdel scored a penalty to make it 27:24 and then Schröder added another after a save by Katsigiannis (27:25). Katsigiannis repeatedly had to pick the ball out of the net in crunch time and, at the latest when they went 29:25 ahead in the 55th minute, the Warriors were sure of victory. HC Erlangen did not give up, fought valiantly in the final spell with offensive covering to try and avoid being ejected from the cup, but finally went down by 33:29.

Source: www.hc-erlangen.de