Unfortunately, the Knights came up short in a tightly contested game. Mechelen travelled with a couple of their Beneleague team guys and the Knights had some untimely and unfortunate (not to say questionable) penalties that stole their momentum each time they tried to get back into the game and the visitors from Mechelen prevailed with a 9-6 win.

 

The game started with a constant back and forth between the two teams and the Knights seemed to have the better scoring chances initially. Then at the 8 minute mark, the Mechelen Beneleague giant Van Beek beat the defensemen for an icing and hit the back of the net quickly. The Knights challenged the call and got an assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and Mechelen capitalized on the ensuing powerplay.
Sacha Backes got the Knights on the board just shortly after taking a pass from Müller and Frizel to score the 1-2.

The guests would then score two more unanswered goals and take a commanding 4-1 lead. The game seemed to get away from the Müllertal Knights, but they did not give up. Two quick goals at the end of the period followed by another goal right after the intermission - scored by Frizel and Müller (2) - and the Knights tied the game up at 4.

 

Unfortunately the penalties started dropping and the momentum was lost again. Mechelen capitalized again and regained a 6-4 lead halfway through the second period. Frizel then scored his second of the game to get the Knights within one, but just 11 seconds later the guests re-eastablished their two-goal lead.

 

To start the third, Frizel completed the hattrick, but the referee seemed to be seeing only green jerseys from thereon as a hail of penalties killed all momentum for the men in green. Mechelen took advantage and scored two more for a 9-6 end score. The score of penalties was 31 to 8 for the Knights, clearly not reflecting the course of the game. The circumstances just did not help the home team and untimely defensive mistakes cost them dearly.

 

The Knights regroup now with two games in the LHL, on Tuesday against the Puckers in Kockelscheuer and then the derby versus Tornado in Beaufort on Saturday.