Spandau is one victory away from its 38th title in the German League. After two matches of a best-of-five final series against Waspo 98 Hannover, Spandau has a 2:0 lead.
The second match was played in Berlin and was decided in a penalty shootout, just like the opening duel in the series in Hannover.
This time, the score was 15:13 (11:11 in a regular time).
The storylines of the first two games in the final were similar. Waspo had a 10:8 lead in the first match, but after 32 minutes of the game, the score was 10:10.
Today, Hannover was even closer to a win, as it had a 5-goal advantage in the fourth quarter. However, the visitors couldn’t save the lead. Spandau secured a penalty shootout with a late equalizer.
Spandau will be the host in the next game of the finals, scheduled for tomorrow.
2023 German League, Playoffs, Final (best of five), Match 2
Spandau 04 – Waspo 98 15:13 (2:3, 1:1,3:5, 5:2 – PSO 4:2) – the score in the series 2:0
Spandau 04: Baksa, Gbadamassi 1, Prioteasa 3, Cuk 1, Tkac 1, Juengling, Strelezkij 2, Marziali 3, Chiru 1, Kholod 1, Restovic, Shepelev 2, Bozic. Head coach: Kechagias.
Waspo 98 Hannover: Benke, Corusic 1, Schipper, Froreich 1, Schutze, Radovic 1, Lozina 3, Macan, Kubisch, Gansen, Benic 4, Basic 3, Grosse. Head coach: Seehafer.
Spandau was never in front during the 32 minutes of the match. Hannover dictated the pace while the hosts chased the rival and leveled at 1:1, 2:2, and 4:4.
Spandau’s center-forward Bilal Gbadamassi opened the third quarter with an action goal for 4:4. However, Hannover responded with a 3:0 run. Croatian legionnaires at Hannover (Lozina, Basic, Benic) scored one goal apiece within less than two minutes to give the visitors a 7:4 lead. Froreich added one power-play goal for 8:4 (22nd minute), and it looked like Hannover would record a comfortable victory.
The hosts reduced the gap to two with goals from Shelepev and Strelezkij (6:8), but Benic closed the third period by converting a 6 on 5, and Hannover headed into the final period with a 3-goal advantage (9:6).
Early in the fourth, Benic and Basic stretched the margin to five (11:6) with 05:24 minutes remaining on the clock and few believed that Spandau could come back. But the hosts dominated in the last five minutes. Andrei Prioteasa cut the deficit a minute before the end (10:11). Spandau got a penalty shot with 22 seconds to go. Dmitri Kholod sent the ball into the net from the 5m line and leveled at 11:11. In the last 22 seconds, both teams called timeouts, but there were no goals.
The hosts had stronger nerves in the penalty thriller, just as in Hannover. Nobody missed of the home team’s players, and Spandau came very close to the title.
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