U15 Stars Down 99ers
In their second game in as many days the Stars/ Tigers were in another nail biter and came out on top again 6 – 5. A quick paced U15 game saw a strong Graz 99er team take advantage of some sloppy Stars play to take a 2 -1 lead going into the break. After taking the lead in the thirteenth minute on a nice play from Jansons to Zitz for the score, the Stars traded chances until Graz equalized on a nice play of their own finished off by Gaspar.
A poor defensive play on the opposition blue line lead to a Graz breakaway ending in a goal again by Gaspar with only 8 seconds left in the frame.
The second period started off well when Philipp Pöschmann converted from Zitz and Dieber to even the score at two. Just four minutes later Paul Hochman scored on a nice pass from Baltram and Pöschmann to give the Stars the lead back. A bad case of misscommunication left a free puck on the Stars blue line for the Graz forward who said thank you and walk in all alone to tie the game 3 – 3.
The teams came out for the third with the game on the line and it was the Stars who struck first when Pöschmann scored on a nice pass from Sebastian Habernig to take the lead once more. Just a minute later Paul Hochmann scored his second of the night again from Pöschmann to give the young Stars a two goal advantage. The lead held until the 57th minute when another defensive mistake was quickly penalized by a Graz team who never quit working. Late in the game Stars netminder Maxi Wehrhan came up big with two stops on clear cut breakaways with in one minute to preserve the lead. A too many men penalty with 2:08 to go in the game all but crushed any chance by the road team and the Stars held on to win another squeaker.
Coaches comments:
It has been a while since I have seen that many give aways in one game with at least eight clear breakaways in this game. We need to settle the play down and make better decisions with the puck. We cannot rely on one or two players making the difference in these games. Our passing is still a very long way from where it should be and one reason is that players are waiting too long to move the puck and then making bad plays when they are under pressure. We need to know what to do with the puck before we get it which will speed up our game. As long as we keep improving the coaches will be happy and in that regard we have lots of work ahead. On a positive note the boys all worked harder than in yesterday’s game and again showed their will to win. We look forward to the game against Linz next week and continue our winning ways!
Tore/Assist - Tigers/L.A.Stars
09:02 Zitz/Janssons
22:58 Pöschmann/Zitz
26:09 Hochman/Baltram
34:11 Pöschmann/Hochman
43:18 Pöschmann/Habernig
44:11 Hochman/Pöschmann
