After their first home win of the season against Krefeld on Tuesday, the Tigers are heading into the weekend’s games with some momentum. First thing on Friday is the long drive to Freiburg, where the game kicks off at 7.30pm. On Sunday (17:00) the Heilbronn falcons will be guests in the tiger cage.
After the last three defeats, EHC Freiburg are currently ninth in the DEL2. In coach Robert Hoffmann’s squad there is a colorful pack of contingent players who also lead the scoring: Swede Tor Immo (13 goals + 13 assists) is probably one of the most spectacular newcomers in the league. He is supported by Canadian Shawn O’Donnell (1 + 12) and Slovakian Martin Révay (1 + 12). With Kyle Sonnenburg follows the defender with the best points (0+12).
With Nikolas Linsemaier, Christian Billich and Marc Wittfoth, there are well-known names in the Breisgau squad and with Marvin Neher, there is also a former Tiger in the squad. In goal they rely mainly on Patrik Cerveny, his backup is Luis Benzing. With a 27.7 percent hit rate in the power play, you’re in the top third of the league, in the manpower game (78.2 percent) you’re in the top half.
The Heilbronner Falken started the season with seven defeats – especially in the first duel with the Tigers they achieved their first win of the season with 6:4. After three early defeats, they managed to win their last two games, the last one being a 6-1 away win in Selb on Tuesday.
There has been some movement at the Falcons in the recent past: assistant coach Christoph Schubert has parted ways and his successor is Martin Jiranek. Alex Lambacher will no longer play for coach Jason Morgan’s team for health reasons, while Lukas Mühlbauer, who was released by his partner Mannheim for 16 games under a sponsorship license, has returned to Landshut. As for the contingents, until recently they relied only on Canadians who, due to Judd Blackwater’s long injury, reacted by inserting an American defender in River Rymsha, who should celebrate his debut at the weekend. The top scorer is Alexander Tonge (7+14) ahead of Stefan Della Rovere (6+10) and Kenney Morrison (3+11), followed by Justin Kirsch (6+6) and Julian Lautenschlager (5+7). In addition to the veteran Ilya Andryukhov, Florian Mnich and Arno Tiefensee are two talented goalkeepers who impress with good values, but cannot stop them from conceding the most goals in the league with 74 goals. With a shorthand ratio of 68.7%, they are one of the weakest teams in the league, while on the power play they are in third place with 29.4%.
Tigers coach Marc Vorderbrüggen continues to focus on a clear line in his team’s game: “We have to be well organized defensively in all three areas on the ice. Up front we have to put pucks on goal and then work for 2nd and puck 3. If we work hard and stick to our system, we have a chance to score points in both games.” The line-up will most likely be the same as Tuesday’s home win against Krefeld.
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