After more than twelve months of hard work with countless drills the historical moment finally came when Team White was ready to go for its first DPL game ever facing the Old Stars in Wiesloch! And White started like they have never done anything else. After a couple of minutes they lost their jumpiness and took over the control of the action. The Vikings skated hard and brought their speed on the ice. Then it was Johannes Roch who brought the Vikings on the board: 1-0 Vikes!!! Only 25 seconds later Brian Smith put it on 2-0 for the Vikings. Goalie Björn Herrmann Beggert showed some great saves and made sure the Viking took the lead into the first intermission. After less than a minute played in the second period Brian Smith’s second goal of the night made Team White dream of a perfect start into the season: 3-0. But the Old Stars stroke back immediately and scored their first goal of the game. This goal changed the momentum in favor for the home team and the Old Stars scored two more goals to tie the game at the end of the second period. A quick Powerplay goal at the beginning of the third period brought the first lead of the night for the Old Stars. In the following minutes the game became a real nailbiter with scoring chances on both ends of the ice. But the drama reached its climax when Headcoach Scott Köckritz called a timeout, set the lines for the the final minutes and pulled the goalie. And the Vikings came with force trying to get the well deserved equalizer. Unfortunately the puck didn’t find its way into the net and a great fight ended with a 3-4 loss. Despite not knowing about the own strength combined with the excitement of the first DPL-game ever the team showed a great effort and proved that these guys can compete in this league. It also has to be mentioned that the Wiesloch Old Stars showed great sportsmanship and never gave up in a hard-fought but fair game. While having some after-game-freshies both teams made plans to meet again in the playoffs…
