Luxembourg Puckers 2007-2008: Puckers Luxembourg Regular season Rheinland-Pfalz Landesliga Tournament January 5th, 2008

 
Puckers remain only unbeaten team in Zweibruecken tournament (Landesliga), but end up in 3rd place - January 5, 2008
 
The first of 5 tournaments towards the German Landesliga Cup was hosted by Zweibruecken this Saturday January 5.
The host team can determine the length and timing of the games, but each of the 6 teams has to face each of its opponents once.
A win is rewarded with 3 points (German system) while a tie gives you 1 point.
 
 
The following players dressed for the Puckers:
 
1st line forwards
3  LW Aki Haapanen
19 C Yves Barthels
34 RW Jani Seligson
 
2nd line forwards
2 LW Rischard Demange
17 C Hannu Planting
11 RW Alain Vaillancourt
35 C Jeff Rusinek
 
Defensemen
33 D Marc Indergand
5 D Marc Billette
13 D Pascal Feller
44 D Peter Krause
 
Alain Vaillancourt and Peter Krause returned to the Puckers line-up after recovering from what was thought season-ending injuries.
Since both Peter Hult and Nicolas Osseland were not available to travel with the team, the Puckers borrowed the second goalie of the Trier team. 
 
With games of only 10 minutes stopped time, the Puckers had to play the first game against Trier at 8:00 am.
Tense and nervous, the Puckers never really found a rhythm and the game ended in a scoreless tie.
 
The Puckers' second opponent was Mainz who featured one former 2nd Bundesliga player who ended up being the best scorer of the tournament.
Tense as before, the Puckers managed nevertheless to find the net when Aki Haapanen scored on a pass by Jani Seligson and Yves Barthels.
Mainz's best player scored the tying 1-1 on a breakaway and the game ended before either team could score the decisive goal.
 
The third game was against Zweibruecken and even though Zweibruecken scored the first goal on a shot from behind the blue line, the Puckers fought back and got goals from Haapanen (assisted by Seligson and Barthels) and Indergand (assisted by Seligson and Haapanen) to win the game 2-1, the only win of the tournament for the Puckers.
 
The Ludwigshafen team was one of the most physical teams and managed to hold off the Puckers' scoring line. They even stunned the Puckers by scoring the first goal. In a chase for the tie, the Puckers tied the game before the buzzer on a goal by Haapanen assisted by Seligson.
 
With a chance to seal the tournament win by beating Bitburg, the pressure on the Puckers must have been the reason for another tie. Again Bitburg scored first and the Puckers had to chase the score. Finally, Rusinek scored the 1-1 with a blast from the blue line on a pass by Hannu Planting and Yves Barthels.
 
Quite a disappointing result for the Puckers to finish 3rd although they had not lost a single game. The German system of giving 3 points to the winner is disadvantagous for a team with a 1-0-4 record.
 
Here the game results:
 
Trier - Luxembourg   0-0
Zweibruecken - Bitburg   1-2
Mainz - Ludwigshafen   3-0
Trier - Zweibruecken   0-0
Luxembourg - Mainz   1-1
Bitburg - Ludwigshafen   1-3
Mainz - Trier   4-1
Luxembourg - Zweibruecken   2-1
Ludwigshafen - Trier   2-1
Bitburg - Mainz   2-0
Luxembourg - Ludwigshafen   1-1
Trier - Bitburg   0-2
Zweibruecken - Mainz   1-1
Bitburg - Luxembourg   1-1
Ludwigshafen - Zweibrucken   0-3
 
and the final standings of the tournament:
 
Bitburg  3-1-1   10 pts  8-5 goals
Mainz  2-1-2  8 pts  9-5 goals
Luxembourg  1-0-4  7 pts  5-4 goals
Ludwigshafen 2-2-1  7 pts  6-9 goals
Zweibruecken  1-2-2  5 pts  7-4 goals
Trier 0-3-2  2 pts  2-8 goals

By Yves Barthels

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