In the previous year, no one at the Löwen Frankfurt could talk about achieving their big goal. However, everyone who follows Frankfurt ice hockey agreed that things are going in the right direction and can stay that way in the new year.
The 3-0 win in the game against the Dresdner Eislöwen shortly before the turn of the year was of immense importance due to the situation in the table, in which the Hessian ice hockey club is now 13 points ahead of the last-placed Dresden team.
Progress in the power play at Löwen Frankfurt
It was also proof that the Frankfurt team are making progress on the way to staying in the league as hoped for under their new coach, even if the record with nine defeats in a row did not always support this thesis.
“Despite the lack of results, the style of play has improved. That’s my focus,” said Tom Pokel after the win over Dresden. Progress can be seen above all in the power play, where the Lions now have a success rate of 19 percent.
But the team also looked much more stable in goal recently. This isn’t directly due to the new goalie Dustin Tokarski, who conceded 14 goals in his three games, but it could have something to do with him. Since his arrival, Mirko Pantkowski, who previously held the number two role for a long time in his career, has been significantly more stable. The coach praised him as “certainly the strongest man” after the game against Dresden. He also played a good game in the win over Munich.
The important position in goal is not the only one in which the club has recently made changes under Pokel. The move to put experienced attacker Linus Fröberg on the defensive is paying off. Pokel has so far stuck to the idea, which was born out of necessity because the Frankfurt team had to struggle with many injuries in defense.
Fröberg impresses in his new position not only with his defensive tackling, but also with his feel for the right pass at the right moment. Calmness in the build-up to the game was something the Lions often lacked. With Fröberg there is now one more man who can calmly organize and organize the game from behind.
How sustainable is this upward trend with seven points from three games? In any case, caution is advised when answering this question. Even in the first games under Pokel it looked as if the team had stabilized. With Berlin, Schwenningen, Ingolstadt and Mannheim, no easy tasks await within a short period of time. Three of these four teams are in the top half of the table.
The start of the new ice hockey year, which the Lions are entering with a tailwind, will take place against the Eisbären Berlin this Friday (7.30 p.m. at MagentaSport) in the capital. In the condition we have shown recently, something should be possible against the champions, who have had a lot of bad luck with injuries this season.
