Drammen – Elverum 31-32 (18-17)
Elverum is ready for the NC finals after beating Drammen 32-31 on Thursday.
It is Elverum’s fourth straight NM final, where they have won the last three.
– Drammen made a fantastic match. They pushed us all the way to the end, and they did things we have not seen before, but that was also expected. They ran extremely hard on us, so it made us tired. The cup final is very special, so then we had an extra lot to give in the final minutes, says Elverum player Tobias Grøndahl to TV 2.
The opponent in Oslo Spektrum on December 29 will be ØIF Arendal, who won 29-24 against Fjellhammer in their semifinal.
Drammen led to the break
Elverum looked like they were going to leave the home team in the first half, because the guests were up in a four-goal lead of 15-11, but Drammen worked their way back. Not only that, but turned around and went to the lead 18-17 at the break.
– All in all, it has been a nice first round, Drammen coach Kristian Kjelling summed up to TV 2 during the break.
Barely ten minutes into the second half, Drammen was ahead with three goals at 23-20, but Elverum scored three in a row and equalized the hosts’ lead.
The teams followed each other closely in the next minutes, but Elverum gained a lead when the match entered the decisive phase. With just over ten minutes left to play in Drammenshallen, Elverum led 29-26.
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Surprised Kjelling
In some nerve-wracking final minutes, Drammen fought back once again. With barely four minutes left to play, the Drammen team equalized to 31-31, but it was Elverum who landed the victory after Sindre Heldal scored the decisive goal to 32-31.
When Hermann Vildalen went up and sent off a shot was held by Torsten Friis in the closing seconds, the Elverum players could cheer for victory.
– This was absolutely fantastically done. It was much more than I had dared to dream of after 14 days of injuries. Then it was very sour and disappointing that it did not last completely. This was closer than I thought we would manage, says Kristian Kjelling to TV 2 after the match.
– I told the boys after the match that there is no point in losing to other teams in Norway if this is the level we have, the Drammen coach continues.
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