The Tornado met Anglet II last Saturday in Kockelscheuer for the first leg of the D3 quarter-finals.

 

It was a real-life test against the group leaders in the regular season, since the lack of stakes in the interclassification matches had probably skewed the double-header against Briancon.

The first 10 minutes could have left some doubting. Anglet opened the scoring in numerical superiority (9:45), while our boys seemed a little nervous and out of their depth. It had been a long time since the Tornado had found themselves behind at the end of the 1st third. But just as in the first leg in Briancon, the team found the resources to come back and even take the lead with goals from our Frenchies Antoine Thomas (25:48) and Adrien Maurer (29:55). Better still, the Blues put the nail in the coffin in the 3rd third with 3 goals in less than 3 minutes from Antoine Thomas (48:19), Conor Leonard (50:47) and Adrien Maurer (51:11). Anglet gave themselves some breathing space once again on the powerplay (57:17), but Grigorijs Holodkovs (58:51) restored the Tornado's 4-goal lead. The score remained at 6-2.

 

This 4-goal lead could be crucial for the second leg in Anglet next Saturday (20:30). A long and perilous trip to the Basque Country, but the stakes are high: a historic spot in the Carré Final (May 3, 4 and 5 in Dijon).