Well well, how we meet again. This Tuesday evening (8:15 p.m.), the first meeting of the season between the Rouen Dragons and the Bordeaux Boxers will have this particular taste of seeing each other again. They had parted ways on April 15, at the Mériadeck ice rink, on the evening of match 6 of the final. At the end of a fierce battle (3-2; 4-2; 3-6; 1-2; 3-5; 2-3), the Normans had raised their arms and the cup, the Girondins had lowered their heads. Despite this status as the surprise of the season, they had started to dream after leading 2-0 before being caught up by the realism and experience of Rouen.
“Today, I think what was lacking was the management of emotions,” admits the Boxers coach, Olivier Dimet. “It was a series of very intense matches, we had a lot of desire, maybe a little too much after match 2. Now it’s a new season, there are new players on each side, everything will be different. Apart from the fact that playing Rouen remains a big match for us because they are favorites.” Simple, effective.
“Playing according to our identity”
You might think that as soon as they returned to the locker room after the victory against Amiens on Friday evening, the talk was already focused on the reunion in Normandy. Not at all. “We mainly talked about recovery and left room for the first weekend off in a long time,” says Dimet. “The guys have been through the prep and the start of the season, there are a lot of things when you start a new adventure and I think there was a need for mental freshness. We told them to come back at the start of the week with this freshness for Rouen and the derby in Anglet (Friday, 8:30 p.m.).”
“A hockey match is 60 minutes. Even more against Rouen”
In terms of confidence, the Bordelais will certainly have a little more than their spring executioners. Rouen lost its first two matches (against Amiens and in Anglet) before finally winning against Nice, this Sunday (3-1), in an advanced match of the 6th day. The Bordelais, for their part, have won two games in three (Marseille and Amiens). They want to continue their momentum while looking for more consistency in the content: “We have to play according to our identity, always as a team and not look too much at who we are facing,” believes the striker who arrived from Denmark and scored against Amiens, Tommy Giroux. For the moment, there are moments in the game where we are less there. A hockey match is 60 minutes. Even more against Rouen.”
Some gaps (the start of the match against Angers, the second period against Amiens) which allowed Olivier Dimet to recall the notion of humility despite the very big last season of his players. “Last year, indeed, we were vice-champions. Now, we’re starting from scratch, we have to have the right process and take the right path to win matches. In any case, in attitude. I liked the way they attacked the match against Amiens (2-0 in the first period) but we’re only in the 4th match, we’re growing little by little as a team.” To take stock of this growth, there’s nothing better than meeting one of the greats of this Ligue Magnus.
The match
Rouen – Bordeaux, this Tuesday at 8:15 p.m. at the Île Lacroix ice rink in Rouen.
Still without Powder Compact
This first match against Rouen since the lost final will be without the new captain Loïk Poudrier. Victim of a head shock in Angers, he missed the match against Amiens and will not be fit for the trip to Normandy. Alongside him in the infirmary, we also find the striker Julien Guillaume (abdominal tear) and the Canadian defender Justin Hamonic (back).
