“Can’t tell the truth”
Adler-Coach delivers curious statements about the beating attack
4/3/2023 5:14 p.m
In the second game of the semi-final series for the German ice hockey championship, the Adler Mannheim suffer a bitter home defeat. Shortly before the end of the game, there is a beating attack that is unusual even for ice hockey. A man from Mannheim is intoxicated, his trainer provokes – and amazes.
When the game was almost over, David Wolf’s fuses blew. Again and again the striker from Adler Mannheim hit Daniel Pietta, but the Ingolstadt native didn’t want to fight at all. “Ice hockey is an emotional sport,” said Bill Stewart succinctly about the brawl after the coach in the DEL playoff semifinals with his eagles by a 3: 6 (0: 1, 2: 1, 1: 4) against ERC Ingolstadt had conceded 1:1.
With only 113 seconds left on the clock, sport in the SAP Arena was suspended for a few minutes – and ugly scenes cast a shadow over an interesting game. Because after Matthias Plachta received a penalty, his teammate Wolf suddenly attacked Pietta like mad. The 33-year-old hit the opponent with a cut on the left cheek, even when Pietta lay on the ice and held his hands protectively over the back of his head, Wolf continued to beat.
“Wolf feels like he wants to destroy Pietta. He only has one thing in mind,” criticized Patrick Ehelechner, a former goalkeeper in the German Ice Hockey League (DEL) and today’s commentator on the broadcasting station “MagentaSport”, the attacker’s behavior. “He wants the fight against Pietta. Pietta doesn’t like it,” said Ehelechner. It was just about sending “a message”. Marian Rohatsch saw it the same way. “He doesn’t hit, he doesn’t want to,” said the referee when he announced the penalties. Pietta got two, Wolf five and Plachta ten minutes. The game was over for a total of seven professionals because of the clashes, to the displeasure of the audience five Eagles had to leave.
“I can’t tell the truth”
And so coins flew onto the ice, as well as beer mugs, and in the already heated atmosphere Stewart also provocatively waved a white towel. As is well known, the Canadian is of no use for a policy of détente. Shortly before, the hall spokesman had called for reason at the request of the referee. Stewart was silent on the reasons for the dispute. “I have no money. I can’t tell the truth,” said the 65-year-old at the press conference. “The truth is the truth,” he said, exceptionally in German. “I know you want to sell newspapers. But I won’t say anything.”
Wolf and ERC Ingolstadt have a nasty story in common: in 2014, the striker, who was still employed by the Hamburg Freezers at the time, knocked out six teeth from Benedikt Schopper from Ingolstadt. “I very much regret Benedikt’s injury,” Wolf commented at the time. “I’m sorry about what happened. I want to be seen as a player, not a slugger.” And restricted: “We are all not children of sadness, all previous playoff games have shown that. I don’t even remember how often I was threatened with fights in these playoffs. Also by Schopper.” He is not the racket to which he is now labeled: “I will not put up with the accusation of unsportsmanlike behavior.” The DEL blocked Wolf for seven games at the time, and he missed the 2014 World Cup because of the suspension.
Ice hockey was also played in Mannheim. In front of 13,600 spectators, the hall was sold out, Justin Feser (18th) and Colton Jobke (26th) brought Ingolstadt 2:0 forward, Markus Eisenschmid (27th) and Plachta (30th) equalized, but the ERC took care of it in just 107 seconds by Ty Ronning (43rd), Pietta (44th) and Frederik Storm (44th) for the decision. Thomas Larkin (53rd) shortened the lead, Leon Hüttl (59th) increased the lead to 6:3 after the wild beating scenes.
“It was a wonderful game for 40 minutes,” said Bill Stewart. But now at the latest there is a lot of fire in the best-of-seven series, tomorrow Tuesday (7 p.m.) in Ingolstadt. It’s quite possible that fists will fly again.