First home win: 2-1 after a penalty shootout against Cologne

Feature film: Strong Roosters deservedly rewarded Dal Colle for their style of play and lead 1-0 after 20 minutes. In the middle section, the sold-out Balzer Zinn Arena saw a physically intense and balanced game, with neither team scoring a goal. So after 40 minutes it remains 1-0 for the Iserlohn team. Even in the final third, the game remained even overall. Cologne has more of the game, the Roosters defend their narrow lead with a lot of heart and commitment, but miss the possible second goal. This is how the powerful KEC gets a late equalizer through Currie. In the penalty shootout, Boland and Dal Colle scored for the Roosters, while only Kammerer scored for the guests, so the extra point remained in Iserlohn and the Roosters were able to secure their first home win of the season.

Complicated by two early penalties against them, the Roosters had a difficult start to the game, but with discipline and running strength as well as a brilliant Andy Jenike in the box from the start, the home team managed to hold off against the Kölner Haie both times. Only Troock, who was unable to decisively deflect a shot in the slot, sent the first offensive sign of life for the Waldstädter team (8th). The first Roosters power play of the afternoon was promising, but both Dal Colle and, shortly afterwards, Jentzsch missed their shots (11th). A little later, Jenike had to prove his skills in two promising Cologne chances (14th and 16th). On the other side, Troock missed the target at the last moment (17th) after a well-played counterattack over Gersich. At the end of the first period of the game, the guests from the cathedral city achieved a slight visual superiority, but it was still up to the Shedden team to reward themselves for their strong performance: The Cologne defense didn’t get a target cleared cleanly, Cornel stole the puck and worked this to Dal Colle, who didn’t take long to take the lead and took the lead (18:22). Shortly before the break, Ziegler had all the freedom in the slot served by Labrie, but Julius Hudacek made a strong save in the Cologne box.

As in the first third, two early penalties gave the Roosters the opportunity to set an offensive tone at the beginning of the middle period. However, the Iserlohn penalty-killing worked flawlessly and what the people in front of him were unable to prevent, Jenike defused as calmly as usual. Zach Osburn then had the first good opportunity to make it 2-0 when he shot centrally from the blue line, but Hudacek was on the post (25th). In order to fend off Cologne’s biggest chance to date, it not only took another great Jenike save, but also a block from Jobke, who threw himself into a shot from the Haie for his defeated goalie and was able to fend it off (28th). The game was still characterized by a certain nickiness, so that it was the Domstadt team who had to overcome a situation of being outnumbered, but this time too the hosts were unable to use the numerical advantage. Both teams continued to score at the end of the third, but no further goals were scored and the Roosters remained 1-0 ahead after 40 minutes.

Two early chances marked the start of the final third, but both ex-Rooster Grenier, who missed from a promising position (42′), and on the other side, Cornel, who was unable to deflect the puck decisively in the slot (43′), missed one Hit. Cologne tried to increase the pressure and tempo, but the blue-whites remained aggressive in the duels and looked for their chances through counterattacks, which arose especially when Cologne acted too unfocused in the build-up, which was also due to strong Iserlohn forechecking lay. Thanks to this strong duel, the Sauerlanders appeared very stable in an overall balanced game. If the offensive style had been a little more consistent, a higher lead would have been possible. An example of this was Gersich’s best opportunity so far in the 51st minute: First he plays through the Cologne defense, then stands relatively free and unchallenged, only to finish a little too hastily, so that Hudacek has no trouble fishing the puck away . The Haie continued to look for opportunities to put the puck into the net, but the Roosters continued to fight with self-sacrifice, throwing themselves into tackles and shots, spurred on by the once again outstanding backdrop in the Balver Zinn Arena, and trying to play their attacks carefully, However, the redeeming and possibly decisive second goal did not come. At the end of the game, the Sharks managed to establish themselves in the offensive zone again. With the goalie drawn, the Domstadt team managed to equalize, which was by no means undeserved (57:37). Overall, the division of points after 60 minutes was okay.

In overtime, first Boland and on the other side MacLeod missed the decision twice, before a very wild sequence followed: On the one hand, Troock and Labrie were completely free in front of Hudecek, but were too playful, in direct return Jenike then crowned his outstanding performance, as he took away a 2 to 0 and let the disc disappear into his armpit. So it went into the penalty shootout, where Dal Colle and Kammerer scored first. Boland stepped up for the IEC, while MacLeod failed against Jenike – the private duel between the two clearly went to the Roosters’ number 92. Troock missed on the other side, but Jenike also held on against Storm and secured his team their celebrated and certainly not undeserved first home win of the season due to the great fight.

IEC: Jenike; Hane–Labrie, Ugbekile; Huss, Osburn; Dietz, Jobke; Rutkowski – Virtanen, Jentzsch, Ziegler; Dal Colle, Cornel, Boland; Burke, Gersich, Troock; Saffran, Nieleck, Broda

KEC: Hudacek; Pantkowski – Müller, Sennhenn; Glötzl, Almquist; Viittasmäki, Tropmann; Niedenz – Schütz, MacLeod, Grenier; Kammerer, Aubry, Storm; Tuomie, Tyrväinen, Currie; Wohlgemuth, van Calster, Hänelt