It’s a real relief. Tuesday evening, the Hormadi players (11th/7 points) won a capital victory at home, the first of the season, against the Pionniers de Chamonix (4-1). With 7 points, they are no longer 12th and bottom of the Magnus League championship. From the first third, the scenario…
It’s a real relief. Tuesday evening, the Hormadi players (11th/7 points) won a capital victory at home, the first of the season, against the Pionniers de Chamonix (4-1). With 7 points, they are no longer 12th and bottom of the Magnus League championship. From the first third, the worst-case scenario almost repeated itself. But upon returning from the locker room, Pierrick Rézard’s men were transfigured, achieving an exceptional second third with no less than three goals scored: “Even if we lost 0-1, we didn’t play that badly,” analyzes assistant coach Matthieu Cyr. There was therefore no particular speech other than a few strategic points to improve. From that moment on, our offensive pressing was stifling and effective to envision victory. »
This Thursday morning at training, the smiles on their faces were there. “The players are freed from a weight. They know we can win. We knew, from recruitment, that we had warriors,” continues Cyr. Hormadi will still need courage when traveling to Maine-et-Loire to face the Dukes of Angers (2nd/24 points), authors of a real demonstration in Nice on Tuesday (0-5). Simon Lacroix, the Angevin general manager, assures that his team is still getting used to it. “Anglet’s latest victory reinforces the feeling that this championship has become more and more homogeneous. Everyone can create a surprise in a match. »
Back to back
This meeting will also allow Angloi striker Maurin Bouvet to return to his former club. “Maurin has had great seasons with us and at the start of the season, we are wary of everyone,” adds Lacroix. For Bouvet, the main thing is elsewhere: “It feels good to have collected three points. We are happy to have been able to reverse this spiral before meeting Angers which has a style, a North American playing culture, with intensity, four fairly homogeneous lines. This year, they added talent so we will have to be solid, work in the right direction and keep our efficiency on goal. »
This Friday evening, they will have a lot to do to deceive the vigilance of Evan Cowley. Against Nice, the Canadian-American goalkeeper achieved his first shutout of the season, with 100% saves. A performance which confirms his status as the third best goalkeeper in the championship: “Cowley has been there for a long time and we know what to expect with him. I reassure you, we are going to Angers with the same spirit of conquest,” adds Cyr, smiling.
After Cowley, attention is also focused on the impact of the Canadian duo composed of Nick Moutrey (8 goals and 3 assists) and Brodie Reid (6 goals and 4 assists). The return match, scheduled for next Tuesday at La Barre, is likely to be just as thrilling: “Back-to-back is something that is being done more and more. The federation is trying to find solutions to attract the public to ice hockey. We have to play the game to try to improve things,” concludes Lacroix.
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