Straubing Tigers: After two victories defeat in Mannheim.

Esing games directly after the end of the game is a difficult task for some professional athletes. Such analyzes are often very economical marked by fatigue and still under the influence of a high adrenaline level. Danjo Leonhardt had no problems with this task on Sunday afternoon. It was actually very simple, said the striker of the Straubing Tigers: “That wasn’t good enough today.”

The Straubinger had lost 1: 4 against the Adler Mannheim, after two victories the best news of Sunday was that the Tigers continued to be elevent It should be avoided as possible because it would mean missing the pre-playoffs in the German ice hockey league (DEL).

For the new Straubinger coach Craig Woodcroft, the fifth game on the Tiger Bank was a trip to his personal past. The Canadian came to Mannheim as an assistant coach in summer 2014 and won the DEL title at the end of that season. In the following season, after the dismissal of Greg Ireland, he became the head coach of the eagles, with leaving the pre-playoffs, his Mannheim time ended quite abruptly. Now, behind the Straubinger gang, the pre-playoffs are the explained goal of Woodcroft. And the race for places seven to ten is still a very tight one.

A topic that the Tigers accompanies all season is their defensive susceptibility. Although they are among the teams that allow the fewest opposing shots, they had already conceded 139 goals before the Sunday game – in the two games against Nuremberg and Frankfurt alone before the international break, it set ten goals. The many seasonal games- from December 20 to February 2, the Tigers contested 19 competitive games- caused energy and concentration waste, which were particularly noticeable in their own zone- and which ultimately cost the long-time coach Tom Pokel.

The trainer’s handwriting: The defensive game of the Lower Bavaria recently worked.

Woodcroft started at this point – and has already moved a lot in a short time. The defensive game of the Lower Bavaria recently worked and solid, in the two wins in Iserlohn and on Friday at home against Schwenningen, goalkeeper Zane Mcintyre only had to accept one goal. After the 2-0 victory against Schwenningen, Woodcroft spoke of a defensive “master class performance” of his team.

In Mannheim, the Straubinger defended for a long time disciplined and attentively, in the first ten minutes of the game only one goal was given in the table – even though the eagles also acted for two minutes. Tigers defender Adrian Klein described the approach after the start of the start as follows: “We don’t want to make stupid moves and attack quickly.” As stable as the Straubinger defensive was, the offensive game was so expandable. For the rest of the game at the microphone of MagentaSport, Klein demanded more: “We have to get more.” Before the game, attacker Tim Fleischer had spoken to the “gunshot mentality”, he meant the gift of “making a goal out of minor chances”.

In the middle third, the Tigers got more speed into their offensive game-and so also a great chance, not just a small one: in the outnumber, Michael Clarke ran towards Felix Brückmann alone, but did not get the disc past the Adler goalkeeper (29). That revenues: instead of 1: 1 – Ryan Macinnis Mannheim’s 1-0 had scored (28th) – a few minutes later it was said by Yannick Proskes 0: 2 (37th). Fleischers 1: 2 in minute 43 brought the Tigers back into the game, but only briefly, because Kristian Reichel (49th) and Marc Michaelis (58th) made Mannheim’s 4: 1 success.

For Leonhardt, the defeat is “no reason to worry”. There are still a few games, you have to “tick off quickly”. Already on Wednesday it goes against the Schwenninger Wild Wings-and thus a direct competitor for the pre-playoffs.