At the bottom of the table in the German Ice Hockey League (DEL), the Augsburg Panthers are in acute danger of relegation. Before the basement duel against the penultimate Bietigheim, a top performer returns to the ice with Dennis Endras.
Dennis Endras is an Augsburger through and through. After ten years in Mannheim, the goalkeeper returned to the Panthers before this season. Most recently, Endras was out with a muscle injury in his leg. He’s back on the ice after a four-week injury break. On Friday evening in the Curt-Frenzel-Stadion the last-placed Augsburger will take on the penultimate Bietigheim.
Endras verbally extends the panther’s claws: “It’s more than a six-point game. This year two can be relegated, which means we have to leave two behind, so every point counts.”
Panthers without a win in nine games
And that’s exactly the problem. The Panthers have played nine games without a win in a row and are in last place. There are many reasons: So far this season you have only been in the lead for about seven percent of the season, the conversion of chances is miserable, a lot of patchwork. Corona, a gastrointestinal and a flu wave have often decimated the squad, the star players Puempel, Warsofsky and Endras injured for a long time.
Nevertheless: There were good phases again and again, many games were close, says Endras. The current situation is very frustrating for the team: “I think the guys are giving their all. Not much is missing, but it’s just missing. These are things that you have to analyze self-critically.”
Russell’s coaching chair wobbled
That’s exactly what you did during the Germany Cup break. Peter Russell’s coaching chair wobbled after nine bankruptcies in a row. Some fans thought he was too DEL inexperienced. In addition, some players had problems with the Scots dialect at the beginning, the speeches were too exhausting.
Even sports boss Duanne Moeser sometimes had to think about what his coach meant. “If suddenly something Scottish comes instead of a North American slang, then that’s a big change,” Moeser tries to explain the communication problem in the Augsburg team in an interview with BR24 Sport.
At the press conferences, Russell often spoke of the players rather than “we”. That was unfortunate, but probably not meant that way, says Moeser. His coach suffers “that the players invest so much and don’t reward themselves at the end of the day. We’ve discussed a lot in the last few days. Players, coaches, those responsible. Sometimes all, sometimes individually. The will is there, the morale is there , the players stand behind Peter”, the sports boss of the Augsburg Panthers clarifies.
The Panthers are worried about injuries
Above all, because Russell could never draw on the full staff and had to constantly change. Adding personnel to the transfer market is not that easy, explains Moeser: “We are fully involved in the search, but you don’t just want to get a body, you want someone who will also help you. But there is not much on the market at the moment .”
Nevertheless, there is hope that the Panthers will get back on track – when the top players are back soon they will finally make better use of their chances and be more secure again with Dennis Endras in the box. And he is highly motivated to turn things around, because a descent would be the “Obergau”.
Now everyone is asked: “Everyone has to look in the mirror, ask themselves what I can and what I have to do better, and then I’m absolutely convinced that we’ll get out of there.” The next chance is on Friday evening in the basement duel against Bietigheim.
Source: BR24Sport
11/16/2022 – 12:00 p.m
