In the third game of the season there was the Eastern Switzerland derby between the UHA and the Rheintal Gators in the Gringel Hall. The game always promises excitement and emotions because many of the players on the two teams know each other and you therefore want to lose even less. The men from Appenzell had correspondingly big plans. However, this plan became more difficult in the fourth minute when the Gators scored their first goal. Anyone who had hoped for a reaction from Appenzeller was bitterly disappointed. Between the ninth and twelfth minutes, the Rheintalers were able to increase their lead to 0:4. When the teams took the break for the first time, nothing had changed in the score.
In addition to the significant deficit, the Appenzell team also had to start the second third outnumbered. The Gators knew how to use this advantage and increased the lead to 0:5 with one second before the penalty expired. The first ten minutes of the second third were disjointed and were characterized by numerous penalties on both sides. It wasn’t until the end of the second third that Men 1 found their way into the game for the first time. First, a double undernumber was overcome, and then there were a few acceptable missions with many goal chances, almost all of which were thwarted by the strong Widnau goalkeeper. Anyone who read the last sentence carefully will have noticed the little word “almost”, because shortly before the end of the third period, Jonas Neff provided one of the few bright spots in Appenzell and scored to make it 1:6.
In fact, Joel Untersander scored the first goal in the final third, and the UHA was able to have the majority again shortly afterwards. Anyone who had hoped to catch up was once again disappointed. The Gators were able to turn this outnumbered situation in their favor and even scored a shorthander. Towards the end, the UHA had to prove itself twice as outnumbered again, but couldn’t hold out, and the Gators scored 2:8, which was also the final score.
If this game against a direct competitor for the play-off places went completely wrong, the UHA has the opportunity to make amends next week on Sunday evening against Floorball Uri.
