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A duel of teams with leaky defenses

Augsburg have the worst, and Iserlohn the third worst defense in the league. They scored 29 goals in their last four meetings, and another match with high scoring is expected today as well

With three injured defenders absent, the Augsburg hockey team lost three games in a row, while conceding 18 goals in them. However, on Sunday they easily ended that unpleasant series by beating DEG. After an initial testing of the water, they dove in and between the 11th and 18th minute reached a 3-0 lead with goals by Steffen Tolzer, Ivan Ciernik and Patrick Seifert, practically deciding the game.

With such a lead they could play a much more relaxed game, and it showed. They reached a huge 5-0 lead in the second period with Maximillian Schaffler and Brian Roloff scoring another two goals. At the start of the last period TJ Trevelyan raised their lead to 6-0, and Augsburg only allowed their opponents a token goal in the remaining time. Patrick Ehelechner did a grand job at the goal , saving 39 of the 40 shots DEG fired at him, while Trevelyan (a goal and two assists) and Stephen Werner (four assists) shined on the offense.

In one moment on Sunday Augsburg were the bottom team of the league, but after beating Dusseldorf two hours later they jumped from 14th to 8th position, which proves a very even league.

-A lot depends on us in our games. We tend to oscillate a lot. When we play a solid and smart match we win, like now or vs Hamburg (4-0), Mannheim (4-2) or Krefeld (2-1). We are however also capable of very poor performances such as in Iserlohn (0-6), Schwenningen (0-8) or Koln (2-6) - said the Augsburg coach Larry Mitchell.

Tonight Augsburg will be missing defenders Michael Bakos and Tobias Draxinger, while forward John Zeiler has yet to fully recover, and his appearance is in question.

Iserlohn ended a three loss series on Sunday, in a match that is surely the best match of the championship played so far. They played a home game vs the leading Nuremberg, and after 32 minutes held a big 3-0 lead with goals scored by Alex Foster, Brooks Macek and Richard Jares. However they dropped into a black hole after that, conceding four goals in a row between the 36th and 40th minute, entering the last period lagging by one goal.

They equalized in the 44th via Brent Raedeke, but Nuremberg scores for a new lead three minutes later, with the score 4-5 in the final minutes. When Tyson Mullock got sent off the ice with less than three minutes to go leaving Iserlohn one man short, it seemed their hopes were sunk. However, with only 104 seconds to play, Raedeke scores his second goal, this time while they were a player short, and takes the game into extra time. That goal brought the home team an advantage in mental strength, and they dominated the extra period. Michael Wolf scored the last goal after 64 minutes for a deserved win and one more point.

-We had a great start. In the second period we had an unexplainable drop in concentration, conceding four goals in only four minutes. However we managed to catch the lead, show great morale and win two points vs a great opponent in the end- said the great Iserlohn scorer Michael Wolf.

Iserlohn will be getting back defender Colten Teubert after a suspension, so coach Doug Mason will only have defenders Collin Danielsmeier and Dietera Orendorz marked as absent. Their defense will leak once again, but the Iserlohn offense is one of the best in the league. As Augsburg are the team with the most conceded goals in the entire league, Iserlohn might manage to score more than they concede.

Iserlohn are a team who don't know how to play safe. They are an extremely offensive team with great forwards such as York, Wolf, Sertich and Mullock. I'm convinced that tonight in Augsburg they will score more than two goals. There are more reasons for that. The first one is that they are an excellent offense team who have in the last two games scored more than ten goals. The second one is that Augsburg have the worst defense in the league. And the third reason is that they have already shown this season that they can play against Augsburg, beating them 6-0. In three matches before they've scored 3, 5 and five shots, and considering the shape of their forwards I'm sure that tonight they'll score at least one goal per every third of the match.