Hockey gentlemen play double derby weekend
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GHTC worries about the league’s top scorer
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Could miss the derby weekend: GHTC top scorer Daayan Cassiem (r.).
Photo: Susanne Breithaupt
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Hockey Dayaan Cassiem has already scored 24 goals for HTC from Gladbach this season and is the top scorer in the 2nd Bundesliga. However, his use in the derbies against Neuss and Krefeld is questionable.
There are two special home games in the 2nd Bundesliga on the schedule for the Gladbacher HTC hockey players this weekend. Both on Saturday against Schwarz-Weiß Neuss, kick-off is at 12:30 p.m., and against HTC in Crefeld at 12 p.m. the next day, there is more than just points at stake.
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“Such derbies are of course always something special. Regardless of the standings and form, everyone is extra motivated and wants to win. The clubs know each other very well and some players were also active for two clubs,” says GHTC coach Jan Klatt, describing the initial situation. In addition, the teams also meet regularly in the youth teams and therefore the special relationship does not only exist between the Bundesliga teams.
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Before the intense two-week weekend, the Gladbach coaching team has a few, but all the more serious, personnel worries. Elias Trueson, who worked for Crefelder HTC for a long time, continues to suffer from groin problems. Top scorer Dayaan Cassiem, who scored 24 of Gladbach’s 67 goals and is the top scorer in the league, suffered a concussion last weekend. The impending failure of captain and defense chief Felix Krause, who has a positive corona test, is at least as serious.
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“Personally and athletically, the failures would of course be a challenge, we will see how things develop in the short term. Neuss had a weaker start to the second half of the season, but is slowly getting back into shape. They are a very well-established team with a few experienced players. Not much needs to be said about the high quality of the Krefelders. As expected, they’re doing very well throughout the league and didn’t lose points as narrowly as we did against Hanover, for example. In the first leg we were behind early on and fought our way back up. Now we don’t want to repeat these mistakes,” says Jan Klatt, classifying the personnel situation before the upcoming double match day and looks at the opponents.
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The CHTC is the undisputed leader of the 2nd Bundesliga and, together with the Gladbachers, has the strongest offensive in the league and at the same time the most stable defense of the twelve teams. Their defender and corner shooter Timo Kossol is the most accurate player (13 goals) and their second-best scorer Lucas Bachmann (10 goals) is also a defender. In 17 league games, the Krefelders have only lost a point in the first half of the season against Großflottbek.
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On the Neuss side, Carsten Merge is a defender who wore the GHTC jersey four years ago. In his youth, the now 29-year-old celebrated the German indoor championship title in 2007 and 2009 under coach Jan Klatt and together with national player Mats Grambusch. Jan Klatt is still in contact with his former protégé today and is looking forward to seeing them again on Saturday. Neuss is fourth in the table with 30 points, ten points fewer than the GHTC has. Although the Neussers have only lost three times this season, they have already shared the points with their opponents six times. In the first leg, Gladbach and Neuss drew 3:3, the GHTC men lost 3:5 to the CHTC.
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