Game lost in 2:49
After a tough weekend in Hungary and a Stomach virus going around to add onto the injury problems, 13 Players climbed into 2 Vans at 5:30 am to make the 4 hour drive to Innsbruck. We arrived right on time and the boys had adequate time to prepare for the big match. The plan was simple, play as a unit in the neutral zone and use our trap against Top Scorer Huber and the rest of the Innsbrucker.
The first period was almost flawless, it was great to see the forecheck working, we created turnovers and got some shots on net however the drive from the second man was missing and the rebounds were collected by the opponent. In the 13th minute a backhand pass to the middle from Thomas Zitz was picked off and suddenly it was 1-0. No problems, the confidence in the dressing room was high, we were shutting down the top player in the league and getting some chances.
The second period and we came out with a buzz hounding Pauliveser in the Innsbruck net. Finally on a great pass from Cedric Irhuesogie, Florian Baltram's onetimer would beat the goalie to tie the game. All of a sudden the game plan had now switched to attack the net and we seemed to forget about our Neutral Zone Strategy. The outcome was 5 goals against in 2:49, 4 of them from Mario Huber who we contained so well in the first period. A 1-1 game was suddenly 6-1 and over.
The video sessions this week will be easy to dissect. Cedric Irhuesogie would score off a great faceoff win from Thomas Zitz, and Speedster Garrit Blume would cap off a brilliant 2 v 1 pass from Matt Flamand. We closed the game to 7-3 and had to really start taking chances up front leaving Dominik Dieber prone to many opportunities. Dieber played outstanding in the third. Innsbruck would add two late goals to make the final 9:3.
Innsbruck:LA Stars 9:3 (1:0,5:1,3:2)
