“The league was on a small break due to the World Championship Qualifiers recently. The good news is that the German team took the necessary wins and qualified for the end tournament in December in Helsinki despite being bested by Latvia in the process.
The league teams took this time to finetune their game for the end sprint. The time to show what had stuck was this past weekend as all the clubs were in action.
Time for a short look at the standings:
As a matter of fact, this was supposed to be a double-round for all teams (playing Sat and Sun), but the storm front spoiled that party and forced some of the games to be canceled.
So let us get into the results then what actually was played.
DJK Holzbüttgen – Red Devils Wernigerode 5:6 (ot)
DJK has been relatively safe bet to deliver points throughout the season whereas Red Devils have certainly had their share of problems to do the same. The first meeting for these teams was taken by Wernigerode and DJK was certainly determined to even the score.
The game did not get the start DJK was hoping for as they were trailing already 1-3 going to the first break. The second period was not about to change that much as Wernigerode widen the gap even further before the hosts managed to claw their way back to the game. With some 17 seconds left of the second period, it was Alex Sagafe from DJK that took the hosts to a touching distance. The teams withdrew to their locker rooms with 3-4 for the guests.
DJK had played until then with all of their new youngsters on the field. The 5 youngsters were actually playing quite well but the team needed some extra boost if they were to still compete for the win. Entering the third period with the experienced 2 blocks it was almost like playing one goal at times. Somehow it managed to get worse still as only one minute in, an own goal widened the gap to 3-5 again. The period proceeded to some 16 Minute point as DJK took the goalie out and piled on the pressure even more. Just as the time was slipping away, it was Torben Kleinhans that scored with 1.13 left in the game. As Janos Bröker then scored exactly 33 seconds later, it was overtime.
Even the overtime was played mostly at the Wernigerode-end of the field. It was only at 8.39 played of the overtime as Wernigerode got their first shot at the goal of DJK, unfortunately for the hosts, it was the Swede Philip Andersson that was the first to the rebound and roofed the knee-high ball in the middle of traffic. Heart-break for the hosts, and elation for the guests as they took the 2 points they so need in order to avoid the play-downs. The 241 spectators certainly saw a thriller as DJK won the shots 66-26 but lost on goals 5-6.
TV Schriesheim – SSF Dragons Bonn 10:9
The two promoted teams lined up against each for the second time this season. With both teams gripping with both hands to the playoff-positions, it was not to be boring for sure. The 165 spectators in Schriesheim were certainly not left cold as the hosts kept the points with a 10-9 victory. With 4 goals, the man of the match certainly was
Felix Künnecke from Schriesheim.
Schriesheim now with a 5point margin to the first playdown-position can breathe a little easier whereas the pucker-factor must be strong in Bonn with only 1 point separating them and Hamburg in seventh place.
Floor Fighters Chemnitz – VfL Red Hocks Kaufering 11:7
The Chemnitz run just seems to keep going. This time it was Kaufering that got to feel the bite of Juho Kivinen (5+1). There seems to be no stopping the Floor Fighters as Kivinen-Syrjälä combo has totaled 95 points for Chemnitz this season. This game was not to be much different as the hosts took the game with a clear 11-7 margin. This will allow Floor Fighters surely now to concentrate on the upcoming playoffs.
UHC Sparkasse Weißenfels – ETV Piranhhas Hamburg 12:3
If Piranhhas was about to stage a comeback to the top half of the league, it was certainly not going to be at the expense of league-leading Weißenfels. As the game was already 5-1 for the UHC before the first period was over, the rest seemed pretty much a formality. The train that is called Weißenfels just kept on going leaving the Piranhhas stranded on the platform. 12-3 victory for UHC leaves no room for “what ifs”.
Berlin Rockets – MFBC Leipzig 2:14
If Weißenfels was convincing in their victory over Kaufering, Leipzig certainly left no room for interpretation with their 2-14 win over Berlin. This game had perhaps additional interest as it will be the first game in the Final4 Tournament as well this year in Berlin. If the result is only because Berlin is “slow-playing” it and setting up a major upset in the Final4 remains to be seen, but I am afraid my money is going to be on the current champions Leipzig. Berlin looks at the moment more of a team in danger of going down to 2.Bundesliga than a potential cup-winner.
Red Devils Wernigerode – UHC Sparkasse Weißenfels 1:4
This pairing is something we have used to be seeing in the finals of the league but not this year ….or perhaps??? Even if there seems to be nothing stopping UHC, Wernigerode has certainly upped their game as of late. With their win over DJK on Saturday, they went to meet UHC with renewed confidence. Unfortunately, it was not quite enough to match the skill of Weißenfels who ran away with the points with 1:4 victory.
Whatever happened at the end of the match that warranted a 10min penalty for Niklas Laurila right after scoring the final goal of the match, is unknown to me .. perhaps someone can enlighten me on Facebook?
MFBC Leipzig – Floor Fighters Chemnitz 11:6
Leipzig seems to have found their groove again. Showing similar form as last year they picked Chemnitz apart in a way that not even Kivinen (1+2) – Syrjälä (2+2) duo was able to stop. Floor Fighters were able to hang on to the game up until end of the second period but were unable to answer the 5 goal surge of Leipzig in the end.
This weekend there was supposed to be also SSF Dragons Bonn – DJK Holzbüttgen local derby, but this got canceled as the storm warnings were announced and safe travel to the game could not be guaranteed for the players or fans alike. This game has been rescheduled for the beginning of March, however.
So that is it for this round…..the competition goes on again this coming weekend as there is going to be a full round of games (some teams playing even double again). So hope to see you around in the halls.
Cheers,
Kimmo”
Kimmo Vallema blogs about his floorball experiences in Germany. Want to know more about him? Click here to read his introduction article.
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