ZSC Lions beat ET newcomers in shootout

In their European Trophy home debut Bavarian DEL club ERC Ingolstadt was close to a win but in the end a lot of hard work and good portion of luck saved the day for the ZSC Lions.

The Swiss champion faced a strong opponent from the very first minute. You could clearly see that what once started more or less as a better preparation event for the new season has become a real fight for the crown of European club hockey. Already in the 17th minute of the first period the hosts were rewarded for their efforts when Tim Conboy's pass found Patrick Hager who deked out ZSC goalie Lukas Flüeler and scored with a shot between his legs.

The second period began with guests who had problems to keep their opponent away from their defending zone with fair methods. Severin Blindenbacher and Daniel Schnyder received penalties already in the first three minutes. With the 5 on 3 Ingolstadt couldn't yet score but a bit later with one Zürich player being back on the ice it was Joe Motzko who extended the lead for his side after nice passes by Christoph Gawlik and Jared Ross. In the 28th Jeftt Tambellini brought the Swiss team back into the match when he surprised Ian Gordon from a sharp angle - until then the Lions had only created very few opportunities. Now Zürich became more confident and kept the pressure on the Ingolstadt defense high. After having wasted several good chances - also in power play - Mark Bastl earned the equalizer with one minute left in the second just moments after the ERC had survived a short handed situation.

Between the periods Ingolstadt's head coach Rich Chernomaz must have found the right words as his team continued as in the first 25 minutes. Not even half a minutes was over before Derek Hahn brought the advantage back to the Bavarians. In the following time it was an open battle for the puck and in the 45th Ryan Shannon's shot through the crowd found its way over the goal line for the 3-3. In the last two minutes Matt Lasshoff (Zürich) had to sit in the penalty box but Ingolstadt didn't manage to get the decisive goal in the regular time. A hooking penalty against Kris Sparre let the guests have a 4 on 3 penalty at the end of the overtime but as minutes before on the other side the result didn't change.

In the shootout Ingolstadt again had the win on their sticks as Jared Ross brought them in front with the very first shot. With their third and last chance Zürich came back through Jeff Tambellini. In the end it was Luca Cunti who earned the lucky but not undeserved extra point for the NLA champion.

The next two ET matches are scheduled for Tuesday, 14 August 2012.

 

Advanced player search

Tweets by @eurohockey