The team played probably its most intensive game of the season against Champigny. In the end, the Tornadoes proved themselves unable to score a single goal and Champigny took home a 4-0 win (By period: 0-0, 1-0, 3-0).
The Elans are, along with the Tornadoes, a team with some of the physically-largest players in the division. They like to skate hard and are known for their aggressive forechecking. That’s how they started off this game as well. High-speed skating however, makes passing more difficult and that gave the Tornadoes some opportunities for counter-attacks which led to some scoring opportunities, but all of their shots ended up being stopped by Elans goalie Landry Labat, who was clearly in top form. The first period with ended 0-0 on the scoreboard, which has been very rare in this league.
At the beginning of the second period, the Tornadoes felt better-prepared. They maintained their puck possession and managed to create even more scoring chances. The Elans are known to be a team which doesn’t let its opponents score very often against and they proved this during this match.
Unfortunately for the fans, in the second half of the period the Tornadoes started taking careless penalties. The Tornadoes managed to get through 2 of them without allowing Champigny to score a short-handed goal against them, but their luck ran out during the third penalty, The Elans managed to score the first goal of the game two and half minutes before the end of the second period.
During the intermission, Tornado coach Petr Fical decided to tighten up the roster and the Tornadoes started off the third period with two offensive lines. High-scoring forward Colm Cannon gave one of his motivational speeches and the team seemed to be ready to fight for the win.
Unfortunately, all this amounted to nothing when the Elans managed to score soon after the period started, before the players were rotated, making the Tornadoes’ evening harder. This forced the Tornadoes to play more offensively and take more risks while chasing goals. Those risks didn’t work out the way the Tornadoes hoped and Champigny managed to score two more goals during the period, making the score 4-0.
This loss means that the team’s fans’ dream of a 2nd position placement in the group and an automatic spot in the 2nd play-off round has been smashed.
It looks likely that the Tornadoes will place 4th or 5th in the group, depending on next weekend’s game in Kockelscheuer against the ACBB Boulogne Billancourt Tigers next Saturday at Kockelscheuer arena. Position within the division is important: the higher the Tornadoes are in the group, the lower-positioned the team from group D they will face in the 1st round of play offs.
In other hockey news:
Puckers match against Besançon Vesontio ends in draw
Luxembourg’s second-tier team the Puckers managed to fight the top-ranked Besançon Vesontio team to a 4-4 tie, giving both teams an additional 3 points in the French 5th division standings (one of them would have received 5 points for a win.) But the Puckers lost one of their points for receiving more than 7 minor penalties, leaving them at 3rd place.
“It’s the first time I’ve been involved in a draw as a Pucker, and it feels sort of like a loss”, said Puckers defenceman Cyril Schweitzer. “We’re still proud that we were able to prove that we are able to come back from being 2 goals behind.
Schweitzer explained that for Puckers to make the playoffs, they just need to continue what they’ve been doing.
Beaufort Knights win 9-4 against Gullegem Jets
Luxembourg’s northern team, which plays in the second-highest Belgian league, won a championship match against the Gullegem Jets 9 to 4.
Beaufort took the lead in the first period, which ended 2-1 for the Knights.
Knights defenceman Kevin Grönlund managed to account for four of his team’s goals.
