The Landshut Diaries: Saturday 20th October
Saturday 20th October
There was a distinctly diminished crowd for the first game of day 2 of the competition, as the Dutch took on the Romanians, in what most believed would be the wooden spoon game of the tournament.
The Giants that were present congregated in the beer tent and spent a pleasurable couple of hours topping up the beer levels, despite having spent the preceding few hours doing their best to stave off beer, and there were in-depth discussions of German hockey, German accents and the relative merits of the music of well-known German, David Hasselhoff.
Our collective knowledge of the German language seemed to suggest that anything could be ‘Germanised’ with the use of the word ‘Das’ before it.
And that all Germans were called Frank.
Geleen Eaters v HSC Csikzerada
From what I saw of the game, it was a case of quantity over quality as both sides battled but found very little to show for it. The hockey was scrappy and the netminders were the only players in any great form. There was nothing much to shout about until the second period when goals began to go in, the Romanians taking the lead before the Dutch tied the game. As it wore on it became a more intriguing contest, and it ended in a 3-2 victory for the Dutch. Based on yesterday’s showing it seemed the Romanians were in for a torrid time against the Giants who they would meet on the final game day.
Meanwhile, back in the beer tent, escapades included a hopeless attempt at a panoramic photo, a cameo appearance by one of our group on the widescreen television that dominated one side of the tent, and graphic visualisations of a number of useful English words, as we in turn educated our new German friends. I was presented with an honorary Giants jersey which I donned with trepidation, but I rather enjoyed blending in with the teal crowd.
Landshut Cannibals v Belfast Giants
And so, to what seemed to be universally considered as the flagship game of the weekend – the hosts, and German second division champions, the Landshut Cannibals.
It sounded a meaty proposition before a puck had even been fired in anger. But it soon was – despite having donned a Giants jersey I was till able to retain a modicum of neutrality – at least enough to note that THIS was hockey; fast, furious, physical and absolutely relentless.
The Giants would NOT have this all their way – and as the Germans netted once, twice, three times, the penny began to drop – this wasn’t the Giants competition to lose – it was Landshut’s to win. The first period came and went with bags of incident – eye-watering hits, two gifts of chances on net missed by the Giants, a raft of poor refereeing decisions and a simmering tension that felt like it needed resolution. It was brilliant.
It was widely believed that the first goal scored in the second period would decide the game. A fourth to the hosts would effectively put the game beyond Belfast’s reach; a goal for the visitors would throw it wide open again. A disallowed goal for Andrew Fournier seemed to take the wind out of Giants’ said however, and the intensity from the first period diminished as it seemed to sink in for the Giants that they could not just play their usual game and win. Their physicality began to work against them, slowing them down and taking them off of the puck. Mistakes crept in, and so did the fourth and fifth goals from the Germans – airlines suddenly found themselves with an abundance of spare seats on planes to Bolzano, as it looked likely the next round would not feature the EIHL champions. There was a mild reprieve as they clawed a goal back through Scott Champagne but it was not enough, hosts’ main goal poacher Peter Abstreiter and netminder Timo Pielmeier a fearsome proposition and the Giants unable to find a plan B.
The evening had not gone according to plan at all and Giants fans vented at the officials but poor refereeing could not explain away the 6-goal deficit – they were simply not good enough on the night. Following the game head coach Doug Christiansen expressed his frustration with his side and extended his apologies to the travelling fans, with assurances of an improved effort the following day. It was unlikely to be enough however, as even a win would still leave the Belfast side reliant on the Dutch to poach an unlikely victory over the hosts.
It would not dampen the spirits for long however, as the friendly barman provided copious amounts of what we later discovered was home brewed beer to the thirsty Giants fans, and the singing went on long after the final buzzer had sounded.
