HC Thurgau draws the short straw against SC Langenthal in the playoff quarter-finals. Despite another excellent fighting performance, in the end they unfortunately lost the game and thus the series 2: 4. Patrick Spannring scored the interim 1: 1 equalizer in the 33rd minute.
The Langenthalers cleverly played down the last few minutes. They were able to keep the puck far away from their own housing, so that HC Thurgau could only replace the goalkeeper with a sixth field player 50 seconds before the end. Shortly thereafter, Dario Kummer, after a serious bad pass from Joel Scheidegger, scored the Empty-Netter and abruptly ended the Thurgau’s season.
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HC Thurgau played a decent game. They put up with the 100-minute battle of Langenthal last Thursday and obviously had the fresher legs. They ran more than the opponent and, overall, had more of the game.
Langenthal counterattack to the lead
Twice Rundqvist, Hobi and Loosli narrowly missed the goal in the starting third. At the Langenthal lead goal in the 9th minute of the game, they let themselves be countered too easily. A long pass from Thomas Büsser to Eric Himelfarb was enough to undo the Thurgau defense. The always present sky color matched the advanced Ronny Dähler, who shot the target over the Aeberhards leg protector to make it 1-0.
Well-deserved compensation through the clamping ring
After the tea break, both teams missed the best opportunities. Thurgau was still more active and rewarded itself for the immense effort in the 33rd minute. After SCL goalkeeper Caminada could not block the disc, Fritsche fit in with Patrick Spannring. The Austrian pushed the puck under the goal roof for the acclaimed equalizer. The Langenthalers reacted vehemently. Nicola Aeberhard stopped all attack attempts by the guests at the end of the second period.
Dario Kummer buries the last hopes
With a wonderful deflector into the crossbar, Marc Kämpf brought Langenthaler back into the lead in the 53rd minute. The mortgage on this recent arrears was too great. Despite the loud support of the HCT fans outside the stadium, it was no longer enough. Dario Kummer set the end of this series with a shot in the abandoned Thurgau goal after 59:19 minutes.
Thanks to the third success on foreign ice, SC Langenthal decided an intense playoff series with 4: 2. HC Thurgau was at eye level in every game and was very close to the turning point in this series. Even today they only had to put up with the accusation of not exploiting opportunities. With the always combative attitude one deserved the fullest respect. Now it is important to learn the lessons from today’s departure and to focus on next season. As after every season, we can only hope that we can keep a large part of the team. Because this team deserves to play in front of their fans again next season!
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