MUNICH, Germany – “It’s not the system, it’s the work.”
That’s what munichs coach Pat Cortina said after the 3-0 defeat in Straubing.
His team got a lesson on this day in all the things his team should do. It was not the first game in this year, the first game in Hamburg at the 2nd January ended similarly.
And on Friday the 13th, the EHC Munich had the same problem. They were held scoreless in all of these road games. And everyone knows if you don’t score a goal, you can’t win a game. In Hamburg, it was not because of lack of opportunities. But the goal of Freezers goalie Jim Curry seemed to be boarded up for the EHC. Hamburg instead, used their chances and won the game 2-0. It was not a nice game from both sides, but the Hamburg Freezers had the luck on their side. In Straubing, the home team didn’t need luck. After a nearly equal first period, the EHC Munich stopped playing and after 12 minutes in the second period Sandro Schönberger scored a powerplay goal. Just two minutes later, Straubing used the sleeping opponent and Bruno St.Jaques scored for a two-goal lead.
Every one of the 400 traveling Munich fans hoped for an act of defiance but were disappointed. Laurent Meunier ended all dreams and Pat Cortina named the problem at the press conference. But the speech didn’t reach the ears of his players. In Cologne, the Sharks had lost four previous games, the EHC lost this time with 4-0.
And it was a classic run of game. Munich was equal in the first period, but after the 1-0 for the Cologne Sharks, the Munich team fell apart. The second period was a disjointed effort of missed chances for both clubs. In the third, the Sharks caught fire and posted three goals. Jason Jaspers scored after just two minutes were gone in the period. Alexander Weiß and again Jaspers scored for the end result of 4-0. With the final in Cologne, EHC Munich was scoreless for180 minutes. And the next game was Berlin, the defending champion where Munich had never had won. But in between was the home game against the Nuremberg Ice Tigers. The former resident of the final spot in the tables had a good streak since the start of 2012 with 11 points out of five games.
Munich won the last match between both teams with their last away goals till now and the match in Munich happened similar.
“If we sent the DVD of the game from the 30th December, we could have saved the fuel for the bus,” Ice Tigers coach Peter Draisaitl said at the press conference.
Jason Ulmer scored the 1-0 in the first period; Robert Leask scored the equalizer in the second period. After this goal, both teams just thought about their offense.
In the 8th minute of the last period, Mike Kompon scored with a wraparound. But after the bully, the Ice Tigers knotted the game at 2 with a goal from Gregory Leeb. After this goal the match was open again, but with the better end for EHC Munich. Eric Schneider scored three minutes before the end after a nice pass from Martin Buchwieser into the slot and Buchwieser was it, who scored the empty net goal for the 4-2 final.
Contact Robin.Hilger@prohockeynews.com
