HTC tried everything in the last home game of the year, but it wasn’t to be. With 0:1 (0:1), the hockey men from HTC Kupferdreh suffered a home defeat in the top game of the association league against VfB Hüls and finished the first half of the season in third place. One point behind leaders Georgsmarienhütte and Eintracht Dortmund (both 16 points each), the Essen team fell from second to third place. As fourth in the table, Hüls is still within reach of the top trio with 14 points. The fact that the top four teams are only two points apart promises a hot battle for promotion to the top league in the second half of next year. The remaining four teams (Bielefeld, Velbert II, Oelde and HG Dortmund) will no longer have anything to do with the title fight. The gap that has grown is now too great. The Eisenhammer team is going into the second half of the season with the small burden of having to play all remaining seven games away from home, which will continue on May 4th next year with the game against RW Velbert II. In view of the now very soapy ground at the Eisenhammer, which not only the opponents but also the HTC had to suffer from, we can only hope that the construction work for the new place will begin quickly as announced. The risk of injury for the players recently appeared to be too great.
In the game against Hüls, HTC could have climbed to the top of the table with a win and started the new year as autumn champions. Would have, would be if. A few days after the convincing victory and the best performance of the season so far in the 3-2 win over league leaders Georgsmarienhütte, player-coach David Ortmann’s team went into the game confidently. For the coach, it was the last assignment for the HTC in his role as player-coach. He will coach the team in the indoor season until the end of the year. After that they part ways. A few weeks ago, David took over the position of trainer for the women at ETB at his own request. The HTC board reacted quickly and presented a solution in a short space of time, which the former Spanish selection coach Kike Suarez can confidently describe as a 1a solution. The 60-year-old Spaniard, who initially took over the ladies of the HTC and is responsible for the development of training concepts for the Kupferdreher young trainers, has extensive international experience with positions in Spain, Scotland, Switzerland, Hamburg and Munich. The fact that the experienced head coach will also lead the HTC men forward in the new year would certainly be the next expected step.
The fact that the copper spinners couldn’t reward themselves against Hüls was annoying, but it’s not a bad thing. The Essen team missed what the women had managed to do shortly before: with their third win within eight days of the English week, they were able to catch up to first place, at least on points. However, nothing worked that day. One was reminded of Murphy’s Law. Anything that could go wrong did go wrong. The last action was significant when the game was whistled while the Kupferdreher shot on goal. The fact that Fabian Fredrich’s ball passed a few centimeters past the left post makes the discussion of what would have been superfluous… But overall it was a match that was led with commitment by both teams and led by both referees without errors. Towards the end of the first quarter, Hüls took the lead through his top scorer after soloing down the left side and then entering the circle. From then on, the HTC ran forward, pushed for the equalizer and earned numerous corners. But the final precision was missing in the crucial moments. Corners were blocked, passes didn’t arrive quite accurately, ball receptions were missed. Hüls always remained dangerous with counterattacks. Nevertheless, HTC could have easily turned the game around with its options. Hope was always present until the end. With 35 goals scored in six games – an absolute league record – at least Essen’s offensive strength was always a good argument. Just not on Sunday. Nothing worked. The fact that the Kupferdreher defense, which was strong that day, only allowed one goal, could not change the pointless result.
David Ortmann’s team competed on Sunday with the following squad: Tim Lievertz, Jan Verlage, Fabian Lukas, Tom Schwabe, David Ortmann, Niklas Großheimann, Jonas Burchgardt, Jan Ackermann, Fabian Fredrich, Christopher Fehn, Tim Neumann, Felix Breuer, Oskar Mattheis, Maximilan Märtens and Fabian Georg.
