A clear victory for the second leg against Mulhouse
Photo by Saveliy Solomanin
03 December 2023
For the last game of 2023 in Kockelscheuer, the Tornados welcomed the Scorpions de Mulhouse in front of around 450 fans. Gluhwine and Christmas jerseys: There was a festive spirit in Kockelscheuer on Saturday. Some 20 fans of the former Ligue Magnus club made the 3.5-hour journey to loudly support their club at the Kockelscheuer. The encounter between the two teams is special in that the current coach of the Tornados, Christer Eriksson, was head coach of the first division club from Mulhouse for many years. However, the traditional French club was relegated to the third division due to financial difficulties and had to reorganise itself. Mulhouse adopted the strategy of rebuilding a D3 team around youngsters from its academy and a few youngsters from Strasbourg on "blue licences".
On the ice, it should be a clear-cut affair today. The Tornados started the game well and were able to take the lead in the 4th minute through Andrey Esipov. The Tornados managed to keep the pressure on their opponents so that they hardly had any chances to score. By the end of the first 20 minutes, the Tornados were already 5:0 ahead on home ice. They wanted to continue where they left off in the middle period. The Tornados' goalkeeper, Philippe Lepage, made no mistakes until the 33rd minute, but then had to reach behind him once to fish the puck out of his own net. All in all, it was a high-scoring evening with a happy ending for the Tornados, who won the game 12:1.
It should be emphasised that 8 different players on the Tornados' side made it onto the scorer board, which shows the solid width of the squad. Conor Leonard also managed to score a hattrick.
The Tornados continue next week with an away game at Meudon. On 3 February, the next home game will take place at Kockelscheuer against Metz.
Yannick NIES
Read the full game sheet: Click here