Löwen storm over winless St. Petersburg

The lackluster Russian side was once again left empty handed in a home encounter, as they were unable to respond to the barrage-fire displayed by the convincing Germans, 23:32 (10:18). The match barred no competitive significance to either side, as HC St. Petersburg is glued to the bottom of the Group A with only one point, and Rhein-Neckar Löwen (14) definitely staying second, after failing to secure the home win against Veszprem in the previous round (25:25) and put up a fight for the first-placedgroup finish before the Top 16.

It was more of a stroll for Rhein-Neckar Löwen, who decided to rest their oneof their best players Uwe Gensheimer, the EHF Champions League best scorer. The in-form German winger was not the only one being rested, as Montenegrin, Goran Stojanović took the place of Niklas Landin between the posts, in a fine display. Even with Landin and Gensheimer only spectators in this match, Löwen lacked no proficiency in their offense, with the 23-year old left-wing Stefan RafnSigurmannsson a great example of Löwen’s strength in depth, leading the scoring chart with seven goals in this match. Žarko Šešum showed fine form after recovering from injury that kept him away from the EHF Euro in January, with a solid contribution to his team’s cause with six goals.

After a straightforward first half (10:18), Rhein-NecktarLöwen secured a double-digit lead in the early minutes of the second period as the score stood at 10:20 with another of the team’s leading stars,left back Kim Ekdahl DuReitz (3 goals) used only sparingly. For St. Petersburg,Gleb Kalarash and Grigoy Blagonadezhdin lead the way with five and four goals respectively, as they managed to onlycushion the blow of loosing with double-digits in front of their home fans.

In the end,it was a deserved, routinely controlled victory(23:32)for Rhein-NecktarLöwen, as their coach NikolajJakobsen will take the opportunity to go into the Top 16 with a fresh team in his hands, as the last round match against CeljePivovarnaLaško (22.02) will be no more than a run-out for the Germans. St.Petersburg HC will play for pride in the last round of the Group A, as they will be a valuable pray traveling to meet the desperate HC CO Zagreb (22.02), who will hit them with all they have, in a bid to secure the Top 16 berth.

1. MKB-MVM Veszprém          9  8  1  0  281 : 217 (64)  17

2. Rhein-Neckar Löwen           9  6  2  1  270 : 227 (43)  14

3. CeljePivovarnaLasko          9  4  1  4  244 : 237(7)      9

3. HC Motor Zaporozhye        9  3  1  5  251 : 274 (-23)  7

5. HC C O Zagreb                          9  3  0  6 241 : 258 (-17)   6

6. St. Petersburg HC                  9  0  1  8  192 : 266  (-74)  1

TEXT: NEMANJA SAVIC