It wasn’t meant to be: With great fighting spirit, but without the necessary luck, the Fischtown Pinguins from Bremerhaven failed to become the ice hockey sensation in the quarter-final second leg against Geneva.
One would have thought on Tuesday evening that the Fischtown Pinguins had actually reached the semi-finals of the Champions Hockey League, because after the final siren the 4,436 fans in the Bremerhaven ice arena all stood up and celebrated their team like a winner.
But the ice hockey team from Bremerhaven only played 2-2 in the quarter-final second leg against defending champion Genève-Servette and was eliminated from the first leg with a score of 4-0. But the Penguins said goodbye to the international stage with their heads held high.
There are mixed feelings. Of course we wanted to win, but we also have to concentrate on the league. And it was very tiring to still be playing in the Champions League. But we would still have liked to move forward.
(Penguins professional Ziga Jeglic at buten and within)
Geneva goalkeeper insurmountable
The Fischtown Pinguins started the game with a lot of power and defended doggedly in the first third. Thanks to their excellent goalkeeper Maximilian Franzreb, their goal account didn’t slip any further into the red. However, Bremerhaven’s offensive effort was in vain because Geneva goalkeeper Antti Raanta was just as insurmountable.
It stayed the same in the second third, the Penguins actually did everything right on the ice, but the puck just didn’t want to go into the goal. In the 23rd minute, the Bremerhaven team had their best chance to date to begin the comeback: Jan Urbas fed Christian Wejse, who received the puck with his back to the goal and shot it straight through his legs – but the puck bounced off the inside post onto the field.
A thrilling final third is not enough
The fans pushed their Penguins further forward, the hope of reaching the semi-finals was still there. But it was despairing, Raanta defended absolutely everything that Bremerhaven put on his goal. Coach Alexander Sulzer had to do something, had to risk something. He took Franzreb out of the goal in the 42nd minute to artificially create a majority on the field. But his courage to take risks was not rewarded, as Alessio Bertaggia scored 1-0 for the Geneva team.
However, the Penguins didn’t give up even after this blow to the neck. And suddenly the spell seemed to be broken: In the 46th minute, Phillip Bruggisser took advantage of the Penguins’ power play and overcame the seemingly insurmountable Antti Raanta. 1:1 and the celebration in the Bremerhaven ice arena exploded – 20 seconds later the hall was upside down again because captain Urbas also sank the puck into the goal. 2:1 for the Bremerhaven team with 14 minutes left to play. Suddenly the sensation really seemed possible.
Sulzer: “We were the better team”
But the Bremerhaven team had to make up three goals and time was running out. They gave full throttle and squeezed the last of their energy out of themselves, continued to risk a lot and repeatedly took Franzreb out of the gate – but in the end this show of strength didn’t work. In the 53rd minute, Sakari Manninen pushed the puck into the empty Penguins goal and made it 2-2. The dream of the semi-final was over.
We are disappointed that we were eliminated. We deserved to go through because we were the better team in both games and had chances to win the game. We just didn’t score the goals.
(Penguins coach Alexander Sulzer at buten and within)
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Sportblitz, December 18, 2024, 6:06 p.m
