Three-point weekend: Our Saale Bulls won with a peat festival 11:2 (2:0.4:1.5:1) against Krefeld EV in the bullring. North Rhine-Westphalia won the fourth meeting of the season against Wohnbau Moskitos Essen. Essen won 4:3 (1:2,2:0,1:1).
The numbers 7 and 13 were the focus of attention in the run-up to Friday’s duel between the Saale Bulls and Krefeld’s EV 81. So far, Handelstadt have been able to win seven of their eight home games against KEV. Out of the 13 games played so far on a Friday, the 13th, they left the pitch as winners seven times. It was the seventh match in the club’s history to be played on January 13 – and in the end there were 13 goals to be seen, four of which were contributed by Halle’s number 77, Thomas Merl.
The omens were clear, the favorite roles clearly distributed. Although it is decency and respect to speak of a compulsory task in the run-up to a game against the tail light, in the end the duel against the KEV was nothing more than a compulsory victory. A success that almost didn’t come about, as the Rhinelanders fished in the dark ahead of who could start the journey to Halle. “Elmar (Schmitz, head coach of the KEV) already informed us yesterday afternoon that it will be very close whether they can compete at all. They said they would try anything. That’s why we’re very grateful that they took this game with them,” said Halle’s head coach Marius Riedel after the game against the Yellow and Blacks.
A duel that is quickly told: Halle’s top scorer Matias Varttinen opened the scoring with a brace, Bulls top scorer Patrick Schmid contributed a hat-trick, Thomas Merl appeared as a scorer four times and Tatu Vihavainen scored six goals. In the end, with a clear 11:2 win, the 15th victory in the 18th duel against Krefeld was on the record. For the 54th time in the club’s history, the Bulls won in double digits, three of them against the Rhinelanders.
“Today I can’t scold much. We didn’t do too much wrong over long stretches, we did it well,” said KEV coach Schmitz after a one-sided game. “We had two nominal defenders with us, ten players in the squad were born in 2000 or younger – and then we also talk about experience and quality. And then the result is okay in the end.” His team had to change the course of the game, but a five-minute penalty imposed on Bulls defender Thomas Gauch in the first third let his protégés pass unused. “Our special teams are good again now. We were outnumbered for five minutes, which was very good,” said Riedel about the numerical inferiority phase.
But even with a man more, the Bulls showed a well-known strength. “We had good plays on the power play, which also led directly to goals,” said the 33-year-old about an outstanding overtime ratio of 75 percent. The Bulls used three out of four situations for a power play goal. And Schmid, Merl & Co. didn’t hesitate for long: Only eight, 24 and 15 seconds elapsed between the closing of the Krefeld penalty box door and the exit of the player concerned due to a majority goal by the home team. “We were very effective in front of goal today and took our chances really well,” said Riedel. “So it was a really good game from us, which we’re happy to take with us.” (Jy)
With the clear win in hand, our boys traveled to Essen to end the week with six points. A total of six players were not on board, but the hosts were far from fully represented.
At the beginning of the first third, the mosquitoes challenged our Bulls. They, on the other hand, defended their own box and knew how to parry. In the twelfth minute of the game, Maurice Becker scored to make it 0-1. Even if it seemed controversial for a moment – Thore Weyrauch scored the next goal just two minutes later. A penalty for the Saale Bulls gave the Mosquitoes the advantage they needed to net. Enrico Saccomani scored the goal. The hosts worked on the power play to equalize. Our goalie Timo Herden knew how to prevent that. But after the break, the Moskitos managed to carry the momentum into the next period. Marc Zajic scored to equalize. Four minutes later – Patrick Schmid pressed the for the third time
Penalty box – the hosts put the opening goal into the net through Robin Slanina. In the last three minutes before the next break, our boys couldn’t turn the tables. With a score of 3:2 we went into the dressing room.
Back on the ice, our Bulls worked to equalize and turn around.
However, the Essen team underpinned their lead and even went even further to make it 4:2. In the 51st minute, our Bulls used the majority game to score the goal: Tatu Vihavainen scored it. Our boys kept running for the next goal, but were repeatedly disturbed. Shortly before the final whistle, Marius Riedel called the time-out and pulled Timo Herden out of the goal. However, the mosquitoes didn’t let anything burn and Danny Albrecht’s team ended the series of bankruptcies.
For the Bulls it means keeping the pursuers at a distance. On Friday evening we attack the Rostock piranhas. On Sunday we welcome the Crocodiles Hamburg in the Sparkassen-Eisdom.
