Today, Saturday, the ESV Kaufbeuren received the wolves from Freiburg. Clever Fit top scorer John Lammers returned to the line-up, but the hospital of the ESVK has now increased to seven players. These are Stefan Vajs, Maximilian Meier, Jan Bednar, Markus Schweiger, Sami Blomqvist and Joey Lewis.
Benedikt Hötzinger stood in the gate and had little to do until the tenth minute. His front men did their job well and kept settling in the attacking third, but there were no clear chances. This changed after the power break. Probably the first good chance had Chad Bassen in the tenth minute, who played his way through with speed and a one-two, but failed with the backhand to Hötzinger. On the other side, Fabian Voit was stopped at the last moment with his margin against a lying Enrico Salvarani in the Wölfe Tor.
In the 16th minute the ESVK went outnumbered for the first time. John Lammers used this to make it 1-0. With speed he got the puck in the middle third, passed the defenders and left Salvarani no chance. Freiburg were not shocked by the goal they conceded and equalized from a confusing situation in front of Hötzinger’s goal to make it 1-1 just a minute later. An entertaining first third ended with 1: 1.
If the first third was mainly characterized by strong defensive rows, this changed to third 2. Especially an excess for the guests from the Breisgau was hard work for the Joker. However, Hötzinger parried brilliantly against Bassen from close range. After surviving the penalty time, both teams made mistakes in the build-up of the game, but neither Tobias Wörle nor Marvin Neher used this for their colors. So it was again a penalty against the EHC that brought the Joker into the lead. Five seconds were enough for Julian Eichinger, who slipped the puck into the goal from the blue. In the 33rd minute, they showed that Kaufbeuren can play outnumbered games today. Tobi Wörle used his free space in the upper left face-off circle and finished well to 3: 1. The ESVK now had the momentum on its side and fended off an outnumbered game with a lot of self-confidence. The special teams should remain decisive. With the expiry of the next penalty for Freiburg, it was again the ESVK that hit. Spurgeon steered the disc in the slot through Salvarani’s feet into the goal to make it 4: 1. In the 40th minute it got a bit heated again. Jake Ustorf checked Max Oswald into the gang and only had to go to the penalty box for two minutes. The penalty for the Freiburg was this time without consequences.
After the majority didn’t bring in anything, the Freiburg team were allowed to try their hand at outnumbering themselves twice. Alexander Brückmann aimed too precisely and only hit the crossbar. Otherwise, the Joker defended the outnumbered again brilliantly. The Freiburgers stayed on the trigger and the Joker had to fend off some urge phases. In a counterattack, Branden only hit the post. When the ESVK was allowed to act again in excess, one could finally get rid of the pressure of the Breisgau residents. But it was always the goalkeepers who were able to put themselves in the limelight more and more. Both Benedikt Hötzinger and Enrico Salvarani had to survive tricky situations several times. All in all, it stayed at the deserved 4: 1 and this was absolutely deserved in view of the overall team performance. The victory is much higher if you consider that this was the first defeat for Freiburg after regular time since January 31, 2021.
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