Big setback for Aalborg Pirates: See the goals here

For the first time in four seasons, this year’s finals for the Danish ice hockey championship may be without Aalborg Pirates.

On Sunday followingnoon, the Danish champions of the past two seasons at least lost an important step in the hunt for another final, when Esbjerg Energy won 7-4 in Aalborg and thus regained the upper hand in the semi-final series.

West Jutland now leads 2-1 and has the advantage of home ground in the fourth game on Tuesday.

– It’s never fun to lose, but I’m more surprised that we didn’t rise to the same level as last Friday, when we played a superb match. And then I don’t think we followed the system that we had talked regarding.

– We let them get their chances too easily, while we had to work hard for ours. We still scored four times, and that must be enough to win such a match, says Aalborg Pirates’ head coach, Jens Nielsen, who kept the door to the dressing room closed for a long time on top of Sunday’s disappointment.

– I don’t want to say that I have spoken in capital letters. We’ve talked regarding things, and we have to play once more in two days, so it’s regarding quickly getting back on the right path that we’ve been on, but today we unfortunately took a side road, says Jens Nielsen.

Below you can see the goals from the match. The highlights are delivered in collaboration with Metalligaen.tv.

Aalborg Pirates – Esbjerg Energy 4-7

Ice hockey, 3rd DM semi-final
Periodecifre: 1-2, 1-2, 2-3
Goals: 0-1 Frederik Bjerrum (03.57), 0-2 Simon Grønvaldt (07.58), 1-2 Nikolai Nielsen (17.45), 2-2 Jeppe Jul Korsgaard (27.52), 2-3 Grayson Downing (37.19), 2- 4 Josh Winquist (39.09), 3-4 Anders Koch (42.22), 3-5 Grayson Downing (45.35), 3-6 Frederik Bjerrum (50.26), 4-6 Julian Jakobsen (53.45), 4-7 Grayson Downing (56.15 )
Dismissals: Aalborg Pirates 4×2 minutes, Esbjerg Energy 5×2 minutes
Spectators: 3292
Esbjerg Energy leads the series 2-1. Best of seven matches are played.

After just four minutes of play, Lasse Bo Knudsen lost the puck behind his own goal, and Frederik Bjerrum took advantage of that to put the West Jutland team ahead.

Four minutes later that lead was doubled. Esbjerg won a faceoff, and the puck ended up with Simon Grønvaldt, who was positioned a few meters in front of the blue line, but nevertheless took the chance and was rewarded for it in a situation where Aalborg Pirates goalkeeper George Sørensen did not look too lucky.

Shortly before the end of the first period, however, Aalborg Pirates got renewed hope when Nikolai Nielsen’s finish sailed past friends and foes and into the net for an important reduction.

The joy was great with Nikolai Nielsen when he reduced the score to 1-2 in the first period, but in the end there was not much to cheer regarding for Aalborg Pirates.
Photo: Henrik Bo

Barely eight minutes into the second period, balance was also brought to the account when Jeppe Jul Korsgaard took a trip around the Esbjerg goal and put the puck into the short goal corner. The Esbjerg bench used a challenge because Kirill Kabanov appeared to be in an offside position in the build-up, but following a video review the referees found no smoking gun and therefore the goal was approved.

However, Aalborg Pirates’ rise came to an abrupt halt once more. The home team’s players watched passively as Grayson Downing and Josh Winqust scored a goal each towards the end of the second period to send Esbjerg into the break leading 4-2.

Then the Aalborg Pirates had to hunt once more, and the atmosphere lifted tremendously in the Sparekassen Danmark Isarena a good two minutes into the third period, when Anders Koch knocked the puck right into the corner of the goal.

The joy was short-lived, however, because three minutes later Esbjerg’s two-goal lead was re-established. Grayson Downing had a free run towards the goal and was brought down, but Downing took advantage of the ensuing penalty kick in safe style.

Aalborg Pirates coach Jens Nielsen was frustrated that his team might not regain the level from Friday’s victory in Esbjerg.
Photo: Henrik Bo

Midway through the third period, it looked really bleak for Aalborg Pirates, when Frederik Bjerrum was first to get over a loose puck close to the goal and might easily make it 6-3 to Esbjerg.

Despite being outnumbered, captain Julian Jakobsen managed to reduce the score with just over six minutes left, but it backfired when Aalborg Pirates bet the whole store a few minutes later and took the goalkeeper out in an outnumbered situation. Grayson Downing scored in the empty Aalborg goal and secured the Esbjerg victory.

– We talked a bit regarding how we looked tired today, but we shouldn’t be. We drive with four chains, while Esbjerg mostly drives with three, so we should have better legs than them, says Jens Nielsen.

After Sunday’s defeat, Aalborg Pirates are forced to win in Esbjerg if the dream of another DM final is to be kept alive. The first opportunity is on Tuesday.

– We have to get back to our game and stop coming up with our own ideas out there. We must follow the system we have, says Jens Nielsen.