Eisbären Berlin - Die Welt ist eine Scheibe

20.02.2012 Lost – but still the leader

The Eisbären Berlin lost their Sunday afternoon game against the ERC Ingolstadt by 2 goals to 1 in overtime. “We know we can do better than we performed today,” Eisbär André Rankel commented. “We have to analyze our mistakes – tick it off and continue – the next game is already on Friday. It is no excuse, but we had so many injured players during the last few weeks that we got a little bit tired and made some mistakes. It was a top game today, the first against the second, Ingolstadt scored one goal more than us – that´s it”.

The two teams showed a fiercely disputed battle to the sold out o2 World in which the chances were equal. The statistics confirm that – showing 38 shots for Berlin and 41 for Ingolstadt. After a goalless first period, in which the two goalies Rob Zepp and Ian Gordon had to show their excellent goaltending skills, the home team opened the scoring at 10:38 of the second period. Julian Talbot received the puck at the blue line and tried to convert his break chance. Gordon´s stick lay flat on the ice and interfered with the first two shots before Talbot lifted the puck over it. But Ingolstadt wasn´t really impressed. 76 seconds later the score board was equal at 1. Jared Ross intercepted a pass by a defenseman and wristed the slice over Zepp´s shoulder from short distance. The third period had to bring the decision.

“I am very proud with the performance of my team today,” Ingolstadt´s coach Rich Chernomaz admitted with a big smile on his face. “We pressured strongly in the neutral zone, which was the decisive key to our win. Rob Zepp made it very difficult for us – he made incredible saves. At the end we were a little bit fitter”. Unfortunately the Eisbären didn´t score during the third period although they pressured hard against Gordon shooting 20 times. After a second goalless period, in which Julian Talbot´s one timer hit the post, the game went into overtime.

The ERC Ingolstadt scored and won the game. Derek Hahn collected the puck in his own zone, took it deep and skated easily through the offensive zone. Berlin´s defensemen didn´t attack him – so he tried a shot – it hit the net at 03:13 into overtime. It was a very lucky goal. “I can only confirm André Rankel´s statement,” Stephan Retzer reflected. “It was the top game everybody expected – quick and beautiful ice hockey. Berlin defended very well making it difficult for us to score. In the end it worked out somehow and we are happy to win the extra point”.

Ken Frege