DHC Hannover had to wait eight games of the season for a sense of success. Apart from a single point in the draw against co-promoted Aachen, there was nothing for the newly promoted team to gain. The negative series ended in the last field game of the year. Against Blau-Weiß Köln, the Lower Saxony team turned around a 0-1 half-time deficit, which Jonas Kreutzberg (27′) had taken care of, to win 2-1 in the final phase. Jan Eidenschink (E, 52′) and Felix Wisbar (60′) brought the DHC’s first three points with their goals.
This means that bottom team Hannover (4 points) has reduced its gap to the teams in front, Aachener HC (8) and Düsseldorfer HC (9). In the direct duel between these two there was a 1-1 draw in Düsseldorf after goals from Nikolaus Schwind (7m, 20th) for AHC and Jonas Cofalla (E, 24th) for DHC. The guests, who had already been richly gifted the day before with a 4:3 victory over the fallen leaders SW Köln, won the shoot-out 2:1 after goals from Hansen and Westphal, because only Schwerin could put the ball in the visitors’ goal for the DHC. A significant end to the year for the first division relegated Düsseldorf, who, instead of fighting for a return to the upper house, will now be fully occupied in the second half of the season with avoiding a march to the bottom.
The Großflottbeker THGHC defended the league lead they had conquered the day before, even if there was no further threesome on Sunday. Against DSD Düsseldorf, a 2-0 lead provided by Niklas Plattenteich (E, 7th) and Jakob Schmidt (30th) was not enough to win. In the final phase, Benedikt Federlin (55th) and Garrick du Toit (59th) equalized with successful penalty corners to make it 2-2. In the shoot-out, Wilkinson, Schmidt, Winneberger and Riemenschneider, with DSD hits on Brock, Sura and Becker, made it 4:3 and Flottbeker’s second point.
The Flottbeker lead over Schwarz-Weiß Köln remained stable at three points because the Domstadt team also didn’t get more than two points on Sunday. In the Cologne derby at Marienburger SC, Ferdinand Steinebach (E, 20th) and Kai Aichinger (30th) gave the Black and Whites a 2-0 half-time lead. Leopold von Nathusius (34th) and Marvin Linnartz (37th) quickly equalized to 2-2 with a penalty corner in the second half. Marienburg lost the shoot-out 1:3, as only Wirlemann scored for the MSC, while Aichinger, Quinders and Nyström secured the extra point for the guests.
Klipper Hamburg was responsible for the highest-scoring games of the weekend. On Saturday the Hanseatic League won 5-4 over Blau-Weiß Köln, and on Sunday the same result followed, only in reverse. Klipper lost 4:5 (0:2) against Schwarz-Weiß Neuss. Julian Dettmer (4th), Krystian Sudol (E, 27th), Vitali Shevchuk (37th) and Lucas Wille (41st) put the guests comfortably 4-0 ahead, before Klipper also scored for the first time through Daniel Petras (42nd). met. Moritz Simon (43rd) immediately restored the old gap with 1:5. Anton Körber (47th) and Luis Bernstein (54th/56th) once again created excitement with three goals for Hamburg, but the guests remained victorious as they defended their fourth place in the table.
Münchner SC’s catch-up game against TG Frankenthal will continue on April 13th, 2024, and all other second division teams will start the second half of the season on April 20th.
Photo: S.Breithaupt
