MUNICH, GERMANY – “The EHC is back, again.” This was the chant, which was singing from the EHC Munich crowd on Friday evening after a week of super news in all areas. And this was necessary after three needless loses. The last three games were very similar. Against the Bavarian neighbors of Straubing, the crisis-ridden Dusseldorf Metro Stars and last year’s champions, high budget and every-year-favorite Ice bears Berlin.
Against all of them, EHC led till near to the final horn only to lost in overtime or shoot-out.
Very disappointing was the loss against Dusseldorf. One day before the game, the manager and the club president announced their retirement, the main sponsor Metro will stop their sponsorship after the season and a new one is not in sight.
The EHC controlled the game till the 58th minute, when Andrew Hedlund got the puck against his jersey and from there it went into the net. The game went into overtime and there it was Jason Holland who scored after a fast break.
Also in Berlin, were the EHC leads sensational till 10 minutes before end, the game was lost after a goal in overtime.
But the next week should be better for fans and officials. 
First, there was a press conference on Thursday, where manager Christian Winkler announced that the match against Augsburg on the December 30th, in the Munich Olympic Hall, is sold out, with 11000 fans! This is remarkable, because in Munich, the last game in the Olympic Hall was 18 years ago. And the 11000 fans are a new record in the still young history of the EHC Munich history. Beside of the press conference, EHC goalie Jochen Reimer met boxing champion Klitschko in front of the Olympic Hall, where Klitschko will box in February. On Friday, star youngster Martin Buchwieser extended his contract for one more year. This wasn’t assured, because Buchwieser had high-pay offers from Berlin and Hamburg, where he could earn a lot more. But manager Winkler convinced Buchwieser while a walk on a mountain in the home village of Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Buchwieser is the sixth contract extension after national players Jochen Reimer and Felix Petermann, and Uli Maurer, Johan Ejdepalm and Jason Ulmer. Also on Friday, it was the first game of comebacker Mike Kompon. The all-time top scorer of the EHC came back from Canada, when Winkler sent him an email after the season-long injuries of Bryan Adams and Noah Clarke.
With this good news, the game against the Hamburg Freezers was nearly won by itself. The goalies of Hamburg helped Munich win the game. John Curry got goals from Brandon Dietrich, Jason Ulmer, Jens Olsson and Klaus Kathan, while a 1-1 equalizer from Garret Festerling, in the second period and with this the game was played. In the third period, backup goalie Niklas Treutle was between the posts, but Dietrich again and David Wrigley had no mercy for him and scored for the 6-1 final result. Munich then had to travel to the Hannover Scorpions. The champion of 2009 is struggling to stay out of last place in the table with low attendance, just 3800 fans on average. Hannover won the first game against Munich in Munich 3-0 and the home game with 4-3 after penalty, but this time, the EHC turned the page. While Jochen Reimer did a great job with denying high class chances, his attackers scored 4 goals against Dimitri Pätzold and the Scorpion defense. The scoring started with Eric Schneider and Martin Buchwieser in the first period. In the second period, nothing happened but in the third, comebacker Mike Kompon scored his first goal in his second game and Martin Schymainski scored his first goal after three months. With the first 6-point-weekend this season, EHC get back into the fight for the direct play-off spots. They also had a good restart with the season highlight against Augsburg in the Olympic Hall.
Contact Robin.Hilger@prohockeynews.com
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