After five matchdays, the Opel HBL standings look very promising. SG Flensburg-Handewitt defended its top spot with a 37–34 victory. Here are some quotes.
Aleš Pajović, SG Coach: “I’m not satisfied with our 6-0 defense. We should have had more saves from the goalkeeper as well. Hamburg had the upper hand in that battle. Toward the end of the first half, we stepped up the pace. In the second half, we actually played quite well in the seven-on-six situation, but we missed the empty net two or three times. Overall, we had everything under control. The two points were very important given the tough weeks ahead of us.”
Torsten Jansen, Coach of HC Hamburg: “We kept up well and were initially in the lead—which probably surprised everyone. In the first half, we put in a solid performance—though we did have a brief slump. At halftime, we told ourselves we wanted to try everything we could. As the deficit grew, a blowout seemed possible. But we didn’t let up and made it a closer game. It would have been even closer if the SG didn’t have such strong players on their roster. Right now, it’s a tough stretch for us.”
Emil Bergholt, SG captain: “We needed a lot of patience against Hamburg’s seven-on-six. It felt like they scored 15 times just before the clock ran out. On top of that, the goalkeeper made a few saves. After Simon Pytlick and Marko Grgić scored very well in Lemgo, it was Aymeric Minne’s turn this time. It wasn’t perfect on our part, but the two points were what mattered most. We’ll have to watch a lot of video before the DHB Cup. I’m really looking forward to my first derby week in an SG jersey.”