40-year-old defenseman Eduard Uvira made a surprise debut for the Barons. The native Czech, a World Champion in 1985 and former Toronto Maple Leafs draft choice, was brought in because of Munich’s ongoing injury woes and was signed to a short-term deal.
"My contract in Munich runs through mid-January,“ Uvira remarked. “But maybe I end up staying all the way to the end of the season.” Added Barons head coach Sean Simpson: “He’s a veteran player, easy to coach. I actually didn’t know him before. But if [Barons sports director] Max Fedra tells me a guy’s ready to play, I’ll trust him anytime."
Munich was willing to take the offense from early on. But a shot by Peter Douris that rang off the goalpost was as close as the Barons could get early on.
With less than three minutes left in the first, Mike Kennedy got the Barons on the scoreboard. Douris set him up in the neutral zone, Kennedy cut through the middle and wristed a shot past screened Tigers netminder Marc Seliger for the 1-0 lead.
However Nuremberg responded immediately. Shawn Anderson dumped the puck at the net from the point. With his stickblade, Tigers captain Jürgen Rumrich deflected the shot past Barons goalie Künast to even the score at 1-1 – just a minute after Munich’s lead.
But the Barons needed just six seconds to recover: While Nuremberg’s fans were still celebrating, Derek Plante won the faceoff and skated into the Nuremberg zone, attracting three Tigers defensemen. He knocked the puck across to the wide-open David Oliver who blasted a shot past Seliger for the game-winner.
„It looked like a play-off game“, Barons coach Simpson remarked. “Tonight we saw the top two German goalies in the league [Seliger and Künast]. I’m proud of my tram. They worked hard and made up for the loss of our top four defensemen [Lodin, Herter, Peacock, Fearns], who are likely to miss another four to six weeks.“
Munich Barons - Nürnberg Icetigers 2-1 (2-1, 0-0, 0-0)Scoring: 1-0 (16:07) Mike Kennedy (Peter Douris, Andy Schneider - 4:4), 1-1 (17:07) Jürgen Rumrich (Shawn Anderson,Martin Reichel - 4:4), 2-1 (17:13) David Oliver (Derek Plante, Greg Johnston - 4:4).
Penalties: München 16, Nürnberg 18 plus 5 plus game misconduct for Mario Chitarroni.
Attendance: 4719 (Olympia-Eisstadion, Munich).
