„We’re all glad this weekend is over,” Barons manager Boris Capla recapped.
Added Canadian-born captain Simon Wheeldon: “It’s been a difficult situation. But we are professionals. When we are in the rink, we only think hockey. But off the ice, it’s been tough.”
Although they were not in the mood to enjoy it, the Munich Barons made the best of it. After recording two points with a 3-2 win after penalty shootout at the Kassel Huskies, the Barons claimed another three points at home by downing the Hanover Scorpions, 4-2.
With a point total of 10 (2 regular wins, 2 overtime wins), Munich leads the league four games into the season and is yet unbeaten.
David Oliver earned game MVP honors as the Munich Barons edged the Kassel Huskies, 4-3 (2-1, 0-2, 1-0, 1-0) after penalty shootout, on the road on Friday. The 30-year-old winger registered two points in regulation. With the contest tied 3-3 after 60 minutes, Oliver converted two penalty shots to secure the overtime win.
In a see-saw game, Derek Plante put the Barons on the scoreboard only 1:44 into the campaign. Kassel responded with a goal by Andy Loth, but a powerplay score by Simon Wheeldon got Munich back in front with 47 seconds to go in the first.
Second-period goals by Örjan Lindmark and Daniel Kreutzer put Kassel up 3-2 at the second intermission. But with 5:11 to go in regulation, Oliver sent the game into OT after being set up by Wheeldon and Kent Fearns – Munich’s second powerplay strike of the evening.
Kassel’s Thomas Daffner and Oliver registered the only scores in a five-round penalty shootout. An extra round had to settle the contest. While Barons goalie Christian Künast recorded his fifth stop, Oliver fooled Huskies netminder Leonid Fatikov yet again and sealed the win.
Led by Peter Douris’s two goals, Munich returned home to beat Hanover at the Olympia-Eisstadion 4-2 (2-0, 0-2, 2-0) on Sunday. Mike Kennedy and Derek King also had two-point performances as the Barons fought back successfully after squandering an early two-goal lead.
Back-to-back scores from Douris and Peter Abstreiter put the Barons up 2-0 midway through the first. But Hanover’s Mark Pederson (on the powerplay) and Mattias Lööf only needed a 72-second span to even the score early in the second period.
However Munich managed to regroup in the final intermission and turned the momentum when Douris, King and Kennedy teamed up again to reclaim the lead five minutes into the period. Andy Schneider capped the scoring at 4-2 with 109 seconds left in regulation.
