1. Floorball News

1. Bundesleague – The back 9 commences | Kimmo blogs

“And we’re off! The league got a sneak-start to the back 9 of the competition still this year.

This means that each of the teams has already met each other once either home or away, and now it is time to return the favor.

TV Schriesheim – UHC Sparkasse Weißenfels 2:6

The first meet of these two teams ended up by Weißenfels taking the match 9:3 and it looks like nothing much had changed. Slowly but surely Weißenfels edged away in the match and with 3 goals in just over 2 minutes in the last period, they built up a lead that was not to be touched. The last-minute goal by Schriesheim did nothing else but “beautify” the numbers slightly in the end. 6 goals by the visitors gave them the desired 3 points.

(Article continues below photo)

Nils Hofferbert (DJK) against Piranhhas – Read about the match below (Photo: Andreas Klüppelberg)

Floor Fighters Chemnitz – Red Devils Wernigerode 14:5

The man of the season so far, Juho Kivinen decided to shove the Red Devils into the second Bundesliga all by himself. Scoring 6 and adding 3 assists to his 2 minutes in the sin-bin solidified his lead in the scorer sheets. For Wernigerode, their downhill course seems to be getting worse by the minute. All is not lost however yet as they trail the last play-off spot by only 3 points but they do need to do a serious turnaround. Losing 14:5 against Chemnitz, as some might call the team “most improved since last season”, is not an upset, but they were never really in place to contest the game seems troublesome, to say the least.

DJK Holzbüttgen – ETV Piranhhas Hamburg 10:7

The first game of the two in Hamburg ended up in 7:4 victory for the Piranhhas but the tables seem to have turned since then. The team in an upswing at the moment, DJK wasn’t playing their best game on the day and Piranhhas just seemed like a rash that never seems to go away. They managed to keep within touching distance for most of the game by gritty play and getting the better of many 1 on 1 situations in front of the goal. It was only in the third period when DJK was able to build enough cushion to avoid any upset. The game itself saw a number of, how would I say….funny? goals. At the end of the first period as the clock was running out it was DJK in possession and as a last effort, Nils Hofferbert just lobbed the ball in a high arch towards the goal to run the seconds out. This was something Jussi Jursula in Hamburg’s goal did not see and certainly was not expecting. The ball basically just fell over his shoulder in the goal to the amazement of all.

In the second period, it was one of the many battles in front of the goal as the ball was bouncing out of control, it was Luca Vogel (or Jakob Bohls? Sorry I forget now which goal it was) with his back against the goal swung his stick in the general direction of the ball and hit just the sweet spot with backhand that sent the ball flying over the goalie in the top corner.

Some 200 spectators in the hall got to celebrate with their team as it took another step towards securing a play off spot. With an 8 point cushion, it is starting to look good even though the game itself needs improving. It just goes to show that with the amount of talent currently in DJK, even when 2 mainstays of the starting line up Milli Spöhle and Torben Kleinhans out of the squad nursing minor injuries, the team can pull off enough to secure a win even with bad play.

(Article continues below photo)

DJK – Piranhhas (Photo: Andreas Klüppelberg)

Berlin Rockets – SSF Dragons Bonn 3:6

After the first round overtime-defeat in Bonn, the Rockets were hoping to exact some revenge. This is something Berlin would have also appreciated having seen their position in the league-tables slowly erode. For Bonn, this was also an important game as it is these mid-table battles that define the play-off teams from the play-down teams.

It all looked so good for Berlin as well up until the last period. This is when Bonn just stepped up the game and Florian Weißkirchen and Safak Temel decided the match with 4 goals between them, crushing the hopes of the home team in process.

MFBC Leipzig – VfL Red Hocks Kaufering 17:5

Whereas in the first round, Kaufering was able to hold on to a respectable 2:7 loss at their home, the favor was not to be returned in Leipzig. The 78 (?!) spectators that bothered to come watch the current German champions saw quite a lopsided game where the hosts were up 6:1 already before the first period was even over. It looked like the hosts took the foot off the gas there in the second, or perhaps Kaufering found a way to deal with the hosts as the period went to the hosts again but this time only by 2 goals to 1. This was not to be however as Leipzig stomped on the gas again in the third and left Kaufering coughing in the dust. With 8 goals to 3, it was Leipzig that retained the points by a clear margin.

Ranking

As the teams head over to a well-deserved Christmas-break (I know…there is still the cup to deal with before Xmas) from the league, it is Weißenfels that is calling the shots not having lost a single point this season. Leipzig has fallen down in points somewhat, but this makes little difference as they can pretty much be sure of their play-off position as well, which will be reached by the Top 6 at the end of the regular competition. The same goes for Chemnitz with their 21 points and 10 points cushion to the last play-off position. DJK has also managed a respectable 8 point margin to the last play-off position…this might already be enough judging by what was required last year for playoffs.

Then it gets interesting. The position 5-9 are all within 5 points but only two teams will be rewarded with play-offs whilst the others will have to battle for their survival. The only team here that it almost guaranteed to go to play-downs, judging by the performance this season, is Kaufering. With only 1 regular time win this season accompanied by the 1 overtime win, it all seems too little too late. They must be thinking of survival-strategies by now.
I would actually not be surprised to see some additional signings by some of the teams at the bottom of the table. Desperate times call for desperate measures and it is not like it has not happened before.

Top scorers

Why not another round in the cup… just to round off the year…

So enough league now, we only have to wait a couple of more days until it is match-day again. Yes, it is the next round of the cup that will be played.

Schriesheim (1BuLi) will be duking it out with Chemnitz (1BuLi), the suffering Kaufering (1BuLi) will be taking on Schenefeld (2.BuLi). Next match is pretty much a local derby as Eiche Horn Bremen (2.BuLi) will receive Piranhhas from Hamburg (1.BuLi) so a full house is to be expected. DJK Holzbüttgen (1.BuLi) will receive SC DHfK Leipzig (2.BuLi).

Then the match everyone is waiting for. The current champions Leipzig is hosting the juggernaut called Weißenfels. One of them will not be making it through the final4 tournament so expect a hard-fought battle. Last but not least it is Rohrdorf against Baltic Storms both from the lower leagues.

So….see you at the halls coming weekend!

Cheers,
Kimmo”

Kimmo Vallema blogs about his floorball experiences in Germany. Want to know more about him? Click here to read his introduction article.

Kimmo Vallema
FloorballToday needs your support. Please consider donation a small monthly donation to make our website possible.
Become a patron at Patreon!
Contributor
Comments to: 1. Bundesleague – The back 9 commences | Kimmo blogs

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Attach images - Only PNG, JPG, JPEG and GIF are supported.

    Support us and receive access to all our content!
    Become a patron at Patreon!

    Latest Patron Only articles

    1. Blogs
    2. PRO (Patron Only)
    When executed well, the slapshot is the fastest shot in floorball. Where do the speed and power come from? That’s what I’m gonna dive into today, helped by ice hockey and… physics! Fact: in 2011, the record for the hardest ice hockey shot was broken: Denis Kulyash (Russia) managed to shoot with a speed of […]