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Sharks taking root in Germany
Written by: Kevin Wey on 12/29/2002 
After two exhibition games in Nova Scotia, Goc has three assists, but Germany’s steep task was amply demonstrated by a 2-5 loss to Sweden, a country fast losing its status as a hockey power while countries such as Slovakia and Switzerland continue their ascent. (Switzerland crushed Finland 6-1 in a WJC exhibition game!) Goc and crew find themselves in Pool B with Finland, Canada, the Czech Republic, and Sweden. Austria has already won the WJC DI-Group B tournament with major offensive contributions from top prospect Tomas Vanek (eligible for the 2003 NHL Entry Draft) and Nashville Predator prospect Oliver Setzinger. The tournament win earned Austria a birth in the top division for the 2004 World Junior Championships. Goc and Pätzold will have to stand on their heads to keep all three German-speaking hockey countries (Germany, Switzerland, and Austria) in the top division.
Goc’s play in the DEL before the German team’s trip to Canada indicates he’s ready to help Germany pull off a major upset and avoid relegation, perhaps at the cost of Sweden. (The only real chance Germany is a total collapse by Sweden; Finland, Canada, and the Czech Republic should all contend for medals.) In Mannheim’s five December games Goc tallied two goals and three assists, giving the Sharks’ first round pick in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft five goals and 10 assists in 22 games. Most impressive in Goc’s last games was his face-off proficiency: 59/91 (a face-off winning-percentage of 64.84!) Goc’s face-off efficiency for the season is 56.97 percent, good enough for 6th in the DEL.
November was not so kind to Goc, though, as Goc tore a muscle in his thigh in a Nov. 1 match against the Hannover Scorpions. The injury kept Goc out of action until a Nov. 22 match-up against the Kassel Huskies, with reduced ice-time in the Kassel game and the Eagle’s next two games as Goc came back up to speed. Goc’s injury also prevented him from representing his country in the Deutschland Cup, a tournament between the German, Swiss, Canadian, and American national teams. The Canadian and American squads were primarily comprised of DELers. Canada won the tournament, with the United States second and Germany third. (Switzerland rarely fares well against North American opponents, and Germany is a European team that has assimilated much of the North American game into its own.)
Fellow WJC/Mannheim teammate Pätzold had a rather unremarkable November as well, as Mike Rosati started five of Mannheim’s six games in net in November. Pätzold’s November did have onehigh note, and the beginning of a new trend. The high note was a 27-save effort against Team Canada in the Deutschland Cup, but it was not enough as Canada cruised to a 2-0 victory. (Germany started a different goalie in each game, as Oliver Jonas started against Switzerland and Robert Müller started against Team USA.) In Mannheim’s last November game on the 29, against the Frankfurt Lions, Pätzold came in relief of Rosati midway through the first period, and finished stellar with 20 saves on 22 shots in a 5-4 loss. (Pätzold was actually credited with the loss as the Eagles nearly staged a dramatic comeback)
Due to leave on Dec. 20 for Canada, Pätzold started four of his remaining December games with Mannheim, winning three of his four starts. In Pätzold’s last five games in the DEL, he has 108 saves on 119 shots (.908 save percentage) and a goals-against average of 2.20. Rosati faces a reprieve from Pätzold’s challenge to become the Eagles’ number-one goalie while Pätzold plays in the WJC’s, but if Pätzold can pick up where he left off, the Kazakh-born “Aussiedler” (foreign-born national) will have staged one of the biggest roster-surprises of this DEL season.
Pätzold’s numbers for the season aren’t spectacular, with a .8964 save percentage and a 2.55 goals-against average in eleven appearances. However, Pätzold’s record of 8-3 is encouraging for the 22-10 (penalty shot wins and losses included in total) Eagles, good for third place in the DEL behind Berlin and Cologne (Köln).
Of some note, Patrick Ehelechner started both of Germany’s WJC exhibition games, so fans will have to see whether Ehelechner has supplanted Pätzold for the starter’s spot or if coach Ernst Höfner is giving Ehelechner a little time now while Pätzold will get the starts when it counts. Ehelechner has had difficulty finding any action in Hannover behind Andrew Verner, and that action doesn’t compare favorably to Pätzold’s. Nor was Ehelechner selected to play for Germany in the Deutschland Cup. Conventional wisdom leads one to believe Pätzold will still be the starting netminder for Germany.
Although Christian Ehrhoff can’t continue his domination from last season’s DI WJC’s, as he is now ineligible, the 20-year old Ehrhoff is still one of the top defensemen in the DEL. Ehrhoff appears set to supplant Mirko Lüdemann as the top German defenseman in the DEL, and the author feels Ehrhoff is equal, if not superior to, the Philadelphia Flyers’ defenseman Denis Seidenberg. Ehrhoff is tied for 13th in DEL defenseman-scoring, and would likely be higher had he not missed four games while in San Jose for training camp.
Ehrhoff is far from a pure offensive-defenseman, as the 6’2” 194 pound defenseman exhibits good defensive awareness and a willingness to play physically. Former NHLer Darryl Shannon has been Ehrhoff’s defensive partner all season, but Ehrhoff’s team-leading plus/minus rating of +13 leads the team by six points, and is seven points ahead of Shannon. (Former NHLer Gary Shuchuk is second.) Ehrhoff’s +13 places him in a tie for 7th in the league with former Dallas Stars’ prospect Keith Aldridge.
For now, Ehrhoff will continue to see plenty of action in all scenarios for the Penguins, especially on the power play, where Ehrhoff’s is a major weapon from the point with a hard shot that Ehrhoff is more than willing to take. In 29 games, Ehrhoff has seven goals, 10 assists, 42 penalty minutes, three power-play goals, one short-handed goal, and two game-winning goals. In the 14 games since HF’s last report on Ehrhoff, he has 3 goals and 4 assists, a bit cooler than the pace Ehrhoff set in his first 15 games. Ehrhoff also was able to play in Germany’s Deutschland Cup game against Switzerland, where he tallied an assist in Germany’s 5-2 victory.
Ehrhoff impressed ex-head coach Darryl Sutter in training camp this past season, so Ehrhoff’s job now is to impress Ron Wilson and crew next September at training camp, so that Ehrhoff can inherit Marcus Ragnarsson’s number 10 straight from the gates, following in Marco Sturm’s footsteps and by-passing the AHL.
It’s possible that both Ehrhoff and Goc will duplicate Sturm’s feat, and Sturm provides the Sharks with a natural leader to help their German prospects in their transition next season. Given Cleveland’s struggles this season, along with those of Miikka Kiprusoff, Dimitri Pätzold could easily find himself in Cleveland next season as well.
The Sharks’ German future may be closer than first thought.
Copyright 2002 Hockey’s Future. Do not reprint or otherwise duplicate without permission of the editorial staff.
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