Written by Only 1 week after the establishment of our floorball club Roude Leiw, historically the very first such club in Luxembourg, a friendly game against Aubange took place.
Aubange is currently standing in second place in theBelgian league and also disposes of a few players from the Belgium National team. An exciting and challenging game was guaranteed.
The motivation of theLuxembourgers was obvious from the very beginning. All the members arrived on time which would never happen on a training day. Everybody passed through the first challenge which consisted in fitting into our small size shorts. (This prevents unfit players from participating in the game.)
After the warmup the game tactic was determined based on the system 2-1-2, whereby players took up the following positions:
Defenders
- Tomas Boysa + Zdenek Soukup
- Jan Nordman + Magnus Hylander
Centers
- Jan Jakovec and Colm Cannon
Wings
- Daniel Hylander, Henri Montin, Peter Bemko, Yuri Jacobs and Richard Trojan
At the beginning of the game we found ourselves a little bit unorganized and stressed. The Belgians were controlling the ball and got into a few shooting positions. Unluckily 3 of them ended up in our net within the first 10 minutes. It was the right time to finish our warmup phase. We improved our combination, kept the ball on our sticks and got in a few shots. 2 minutes before the end of the first period Henri Montin sneaked in between Aubange defenders, accepted a pass at full speed, outmaneuvered the goalie and scored, 1-3.
The goal right before a break was great motivation for us.
The second period started with much more confidence on our side. The team was in an offensive mood. One shot after another bombarded the Belgian’s goalie. Aubange attempted a few breakthroughs but always ended up on our uncompromising defense. The pressure was fruitful. Peter Bemko stopped the ball dead, shot it across into the net and it was 2-3. Colm Cannon’s strong participation throughout the game paid off, resulting in goal 3-3. Unfortunately 1 of the few Aubange’s attempts ended up in our goal, 3-4. A few moments later Jan Jakovec ran from the left side into the center and surprised himself, the rival’s defense and the goalie with a bouncing backhand slap shot, 4-4. A moment before the end of the second period Aubange profited from our ball loss and scored again, 4-5.
The beginning of the third and last period was cruel to us. From a little Aubange exploited a lot, 4-6. The game was drawing to a close. Active Peter Bemko shot and scored his second goal in the match, 5-6. The same formation stayed on the pitch. A few seconds after a face off Daniel Hylander alias Messy found himself in good shooting range and with an instinct of a serial killer found a victim from Belgium, 6-6. Aubaunge started to panic, playing erratically and committing fouls. Unluckily for them, the tough Luxembourg squad is pretty familiar with a physical game. After one of many combats Jan Jakovec won the ball, fought through the opposititions defense right in front of the goalie and placed the ball firmly in the back of the net, 7-6. The score did not change until the end of the game and Roude Leiw would celebrate their first win in the historical first game as the National Team of Luxembourg.
This victory is a reward for all the hard work and effort put into the training for each Roude Leiw member. It is a great incentive to keep up our hard work and keep improving for future games.
Jan
