Spandau 04 beat Waspo Hannover for the 3rd time in the German Championships this season.
The Berliners beat the reigning champion 14:13 after a penalty shootout in the first final match, played in Hannover.
But, the way to the title is long. The final of the German League is a best-of-five series. Spandau needs two wins to claim the title. Still, Spandau did a great job with an away win. It will have home field advantage in the next two encounters scheduled for this weekend.
2023 German League, Playoffs, Final (best of five), Match 1
Waspo Hannover – Spandau 04 13:14 (2:2, 3:1, 3:5, 2:2, PSO 3:4)
Waspo 98 Hannover: Benke, Corusic 1, Schipper 3, M.Froreich , F.Schutze 1, Radovic 1, Lozina 2, Macan, Kubisch, Gansen 1, Benic 2, Basic 2, Grosse. Head coach: Seehafer.
Spandau 04: Baksa, Gbadamassi 1, Prioteasa, Cuk, Tkac 5, Jungling, Strelezkij 2, Marziali 1, Chiru, Kholod 2, Restovic, Shepelev 3, Bozic. Head coach: Kechagias.
The duel between the best German clubs at the start of the final was a game with a lot of turns. However, Waspo Hannover was closer to the win. Two and a half minutes before the final buzzer, Hannover had a 2-goal advantage. Still, Spandau leveled in the dying seconds and won the game in the shootout afterward.
Spandau took an early 2:0 lead in the first two minutes, but Hannover caught up with the visitors by the first break and took control in the second period. Hrvoje Benic gave Hannover a two-goal lead for the first time in the 16th minute, converting a 6 on 5, and the hosts went into the second half with a 5:3 advantage. Spandau had a man-up in its last possession in the first half but didn’t score.
Centre-forward Luka Lozina made it 6:3 in the 17th minute. It looked like Hannover was on the way to a victory. However, Spandau produced a quick comeback. The Berliners scored four straight goals in three minutes and turned around a 3:6 deficit to a 7:6 lead. Slovak Marek Tkac was in the leading role in these moments. He scored three of the four goals (the Dutch Bilal Gbadamasi netted one). Spandau had an 8:7 advantage, but the teams were tied at 8:8 before the final quarter.
In the middle of the fourth period, Hannover earned a 10:8 lead with two goals within 76 seconds (both were with a power play advantage). Roman Shepelev cut the deficit in the 30th minute. The same player leveled from an extra player with 19 seconds left on the clock – 10:10. Hannover didn’t find the net in its last attack and the match entered a shootout.
There were no misses in the first three rounds of the shots. Spandau’s goalkeeper Laszlo Baksa decided everything with two saves in the fourth and the fifth round, and the Berliners made the first step toward the trophy.
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