The second division ice hockey team Eisbären Regensburg has no time to catch their breath right now: on Friday, December 30, the Domstadt team will play their third game in just five days. Then from 20:00 the Heilbronner Falken will be guests in the Regensburg Danube Arena. The Baden-Württembergers are the best proof of how close and competitive DEL 2 is at the moment: they are in 13th and therefore penultimate place in the table (37 points), but despite the last four defeats in a row, they are only seven points clear gap from Oberpfälzern, eighth with 43 points. This important meeting could therefore point the way for both clubs.
For both teams there have been four defeats in the last five games. While the polar bears were unlucky to lose against the top teams Krefeld (4:6) and Kassel (3:6), but defeated the strong Ravensburger 4:0 in the Danube Arena, Heilbronn failed in three of the four games younger against direct competitors from the middle-back regions of the ranking. Weißwasser’s Lausitzer Füchsen (10th place) had a bitter 1:5, in Landshut (recently improved to seventh place) a 3:4 and at home against Crimmitschau (12th) a tight 0:1. Meanwhile the team lost 4-1 in Dresden (6th). As a result, the Falcons parted ways with head coach Jason Morgan on Thursday, and his successor will be former assistant coach Martin Jiranek. Jiranek had recently inherited Christoph Schubert as assistant coach after a weak start to the season. As a result, Baden-Württemberger’s form showed upwards, but due to the recent losing streak, the Heilbronn team destroyed its temporary high.
The polar bears have learned firsthand this season that the falcons are to be expected: On the sixth game day, both teams met for the first time: the team from Heilbronn, which was still useless at the time, brought the team from Regensburg to the brink of defeat, only after Shootout won the Upper Palatinate with 3:2. The goals for the polar bears were scored by Lukas Heger and Corey Trivino, Jakob Weber converting the decisive penalty. August von Ungern-Sternberg and top scorer Alex Tonge equalized Regensburg’s 2-0 win for the visitors.
Beware of Captain Gajovský
In the second meeting, however, a clear deal for the Domstadt team followed: Coach Max Kaltenhauser’s protégés won away 5-1 (goals: Radim Matuš, Andrew Schembri (2), Richard Diviš and Daniel Pronin). But the polar bears shouldn’t be blinded by this: With Tonge, the Falcons not only have the third best goalscorer in the entire league (1st place: Corey Trivino), they have also signed River Rymsha, a defender from the offensive contingent. The Polar Bears are likely to miss the showdown again with de Falken, with Constantin Ontl and Lukas Wagner injured, and Erik Keresztury (all Sturm) also sidelined after picking up an injury in the Freiburg match.
Particular attention will be paid to the Polar Bears captain Nikola Gajovský in the game. With his next scoring point, the forward could take the sole lead in the all-time scoring list in Regensburg’s 60-year ice hockey history. In the 4-0 win over Ravensburg he equalized the previous leader “Magic” Mike Martens (593 points) with a brace, in the following 3-5 defeat he was not involved in a goal and was thus able to set the record in watching l last game of the year in front of your own fans.
Tickets are available at: www.ebr.live
Text: Goal of Jan Mirco
Image: Melanie Feldmeier/arSito
