The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Key defenceman welcomed back to Fife Flyers
ICE HOCKEY: Head coach Pacha takes positives from warm-up games
Dundee Stars coach Omar Pacha was reasonably satisfied as his team opened their build-up to the new season with two games against German side Freiburg Wolves at Dundee Ice Arena.
Stars won Saturday’s game 5-1 before going down 3-2 in overtime in last night’s meeting.
Pacha said: “We had a lot of good things going tonight. In 120 minutes, only conceding a total of four goals, I thought was all right.
“I thought the defence, our goalie and the defensive five-man unit was good.
“Obviously we had more jump on Saturday which is perfectly normal. I think we got tired on Sunday, but it is no excuse, we worked hard all week.
“It is the first week, we have to be realistic and I think we all wanted to win the last game but, all in all, we got the 2-1 lead and Sheep (Craig Holland) was in in the second half and did good.
“We allowed one goal that I am sure we would like to have back but that is a lot of teaching and takes a bit of time.
“I saw a lot of positives and just a few things we have to correct but that takes time.”
Matt Bissonnette, Shawn Boutin, Charlie Corcoran, Francois Bouchard and Drydn Dow all found the net for Stars in Saturday’s win, while Marc Wittfoth provided Freiburg’s only goal.
The same teams took to the ice last night to do it all again, with Christoph Frankenberg withdrawn from the visiting line-up after sustaining an injury.
Despite powerplay chances for the home side and a couple of scares for new goaltender Pontus Sjogren, the first period ended scoreles.
Freiburg opened the scoring five minutes into the second stanza through Wittfoth but Dundee produced an instant response on a powerplay when Matt Marquardt released a rocket of a shot into the top of the net, just 36 seconds after Stars had conceded.
Mike Sullivan created a good chance but fired high over the goal.
Holland was given the nod with just over nine minutes remaining in the second period, as he replaced Sjogren in the Stars goal.
The Scottish goalie was called into action quickly and made a fine stop to keep the scores level. Meyer then fired a quick wrist shot but Holland caught it comfortably.
Stars opened the third period with a quick goal from Bissonnette to take the lead 36 seconds after the restart.
Holland made a number of saves as Wolves stepped up the pressure but Marvin Neher tied the game at 2-2 after he beat the keeper in the 46th minute with a neat finish.
The visitors had a five-on-three powerplay but Dundee were able to kill off the penalties.
Stars could have stolen a late win as Corcoran was found alone but his shot was stopped by the toe of Matthias Nemec.
With the game tied at 2-2, overtime was required to decide the winner.
After a turnover in the neutral zone, Nikolas Linsenmaier sealed the win for Freiburg just 90 seconds into the extra period.