Straubing Tigers mess up dress rehearsal for CHL start

ERC Ingolstadt won the Gäuboden Cup on Saturday afternoon. The Upper Bavarians beat DEL rivals Nürnberg Ice Tigers 2-1 in the final. The hosts, on the other hand, were left with a sobering fourth and last place.

The Straubing Tigers, who lost the semi-final against Ingolstadt on Thursday evening (1:3), also had to admit defeat to their Czech guests Mountfield HK (1:2). One week before the first competitive game in the Champions Hockey League (Friday, 7:30 p.m.), Joshua Samanska was the only one to score the final score of 1:2 (53rd minute).

Before the face-off, there was a minute’s silence for the brothers Johnny (31) and Matthew Gaudreau (29), who recently died in an accident. Seven-time NHL All-Star Johnny Gaudreau (Columbus Blue Jackets) died after an accident. He and his brother were riding their bikes when they were hit by a car driven by a drunk driver, according to media reports, and were so seriously injured that the brothers were pronounced dead at the scene of the accident.

Back to the action in the ice stadium at the Pulverturm: The Tigers messed up the start of the small final. Goalkeeper Zane McIntyre was defeated after just 18 seconds: Pavlik Radovan scored an early 1-0 for the Czech Republic. The guests then played hard and forceful ice hockey, which caused problems for Straubing. In the second period, Mountfield used a power play to make it 2-0 through Ryan Dmowski (26th).

The Tigers helped themselves to this deficit. For a long time, it was in vain, and it was only seven minutes before the clock ran out that Samanski managed to score a goal after a pass from Michael Clarke and Cole Fonstad. After that, the hosts tried everything, but they were unable to equalize. After the friendly win against second division side Landshut (4:0), this weekend saw two defeats for the Tigers, who played their first competitive game in just six days. Then the season in the Champions Hockey League begins with the home game against SønderjyskE Vojens (Denmark).

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