The home opener is followed by the first road trip. SG Flensburg-Handewitt will face Bergischer HC tomorrow, Wednesday. The game starts at 8 p.m.
The SG’s home arena has a new name—GGW Arena—but the team is well acquainted with it as “Hölle Nord” (Hell of the North). Bergischer HC, on the other hand, rotates between three venues. This time, the Unihalle in Wuppertal has been booked. A year ago, the game was held at the Mitsubishi Electric Halle in Düsseldorf. Some may still remember how the SG played its fast-paced handball on the Rhine, having already scored 26 goals by halftime and ultimately winning 43–33. Right now, the SG camp is still a bit uncertain about its own level of performance. So far, they’ve played only one official match: a hard-fought 33–31 victory over THSV Eisenach. “We went over a lot of details in our analysis,” says SG coach Aleš Pajović. “I really liked our offense with Aymeric Minne in the center. Our defense is still an issue—but overall, it wasn’t bad.”
Player Changes at BHC
Bergischer HC lost 29:30 to TVB Stuttgart on the first matchday of the Opel HBL. Christopher Rudeck, who once came up through the SG youth system and is now entering his twelfth season with BHC, remains in goal. His new fellow goalkeeper is Kristian van der Merwe (HSG Nordhorn-Lingen). With pivot Aron Seesing (Rhein-Neckar Löwen), playmaker Eloy Morante Maldonado (HC Erlangen), and Noah Beyer (HSV Hamburg), the West Germans had to cope with a few significant departures. The most notable signings are Fynn Hangstein (ThSV Eisenach) for the backcourt and Tom Bergner (GWD Minden) for the pivot position. “There are no easy games,” says Aleš Pajović. “But if we perform at 100 percent, we’ll pick up two points.”