Matchday 19: Melsungen wants to continue winning streak at the champions, the pursuers are challenged away from home

Thursday, 13 February:

• After TVB Stuttgart had won four of the last five games before the World Championship break, they lost 29:36 to VfL Gummersbach in the first league game of the new year, and are now in 15th place with 10:26 points.
• Even after the restart, TSV Hannover-Burgdorf are fourth in the table with 26:8 points, level on points with THW Kiel and Füchse Berlin, but only narrowly won the defensive battle against SC DHfK Leipzig with 24:23.
• Renars Uscins has scored 126 goals for the Recken so far, putting him in fourth place on the HBL top scorer list.
• In the reverse fixture, TSV Hannover-Burgdorf celebrated a clear 33:20 victory, the 13th win in 19 games against the Swabians, who have only won four times. Recken have won five of the last six duels, the only Stuttgart victory in this period was in December 2023 with a 32:28.

• Thanks to Tim Nothdurft's goal with the final whistle at HSVH Hamburg, Rhein-Neckar Löwen reached a 30:30 draw in the first game of the year, remaining unbeaten in four of the last five games and keeping up with the European Cup places in seventh place with 21:13 points.
• On the other hand, the unfortunate 27:28 against HSG Wetzlar last Sunday extended the losing streak of SG BBM Bietigheim, who have not won the last 14 HBL games. With 8:28 points, Iker Romero's team is third from last, still three points ahead of the first relegation place.
• With 124 goals, Ivan Martinovic, Croatian World Championship runners-up in the Lions' squad, is currently the fifth best HBL scorer.
• Rhein-Neckar Löwen have a clean sheet with five wins in five games against the SG, in the reverse fixture the Baden team beat the Swabians 33:25.

Saturday, 15 February:

• The 32:26 victory at HC Erlangen was a perfect debut for Flensburg's new coach Ales Pajovic. The SG, with their seven newly crowned Danish world champions, remains fifth with 26:10 points.
• Two of these world champions are in third and tenth place of the HBL scorers list: Emil Jakobsen with 131 goals (including eleven in Erlangen), Simon Pytlick with 92.
• After four defeats in a row before the World Championship break, Gummersbach returned to winning ways with a 36:29 victory against TVB Stuttgart last Sunday and are currently in ninth place with 18:16 points.
• Even though the SG has won 42 duels against VfL (21 wins), Gummersbach are undefeated in the last two duels: in the reverse fixture it was 29:29, in the previous season there was a 34:28 win in Flensburg. It was one of five away wins in 34 games so far.
• Both teams failed in the quarter-finals of the German Cup - Flensburg at MT Melsungen, Gummersbach at THW Kiel.

Sunday, 16 February:

• Champions against league leaders - after the 25:31 defeat at THW Kiel last Sunday, SC Magdeburg are now facing the next top game. With three games less than MT Melsungen, the sixth-place SCM is already five points behind.
• Melsungen not only won the last six games before the World Championship break, but also demonstrated its top form at the restart with a confident 30:23 win against FRISCH AUF! Göppingen.
• Two of the last four DAIKIN HBL duels ended in draws, with Melsungen winning 31:23 in the first half of the season and Magdeburg 39:23 in the last encounter in the GETEC Arena, although Magdeburg had previously won six league games in a row against Melsungen.
• In the 2024 cup final, the SCM clearly beat Melsungen 30:19 and celebrated their third cup trophy. In contrast to the defending champion (round of 16 exit in Kiel), Melsungen will be back in Cologne on 12/13 April at the Lidl Final4 and will face second division team HBW Balingen-Weilstetten in the semi.

• After the 26:32 against SG Flensburg-Handewitt at the restart, the second North German club is visiting Erlangen. With 5:29 points, the Franconians are second to last, having lost the last four games.
• The Hamburg team has 17:19 points and is in tenth place after the unfortunate 30:30 against the Rhein-Neckar Löwen.
• The narrow 27:28 in the first leg was a return to the old ground for the then new HCE coach Martin Schwalb. The overall record includes five wins for the HSVH and four for the Erlangen team.
• HC Erlangen announced the immediate signing of Finn Zecher during the week. The goalkeeper comes from TuS N-Lübbecke and replaces the injured Khalifa Ghedbane.

• With the razor-thin 28:27 against promoted team SG BBM Bietigheim, HSG Wetzlar have consolidated 13th place in the table and increased the gap to the bottom. HSG have won three of their last five games.
• The 31:25 against champions SC Magdeburg was the eighth victory in a row for THW Kiel, who are still third in the table and four points behind league leaders MT Melsungen.
• Against Magdeburg, Kiel's world champion Emil Madsen scored his 100th goal of the season in the HBL and, with 101 goals, is now 17 goals ahead of Wetzlar's best scorer Dominik Mappes (84).
• THW Kiel have won the last six games against HSG in the DAIKIN HBL, including the 35:24 in the first leg. In the last four home games against the Zebras, however, Wetzlar also had two home wins, most recently in December 2021.

• After the 31:34 defeat on Monday evening in Eisenach, TBV Lemgo Lippe are now eleventh in the table with 16:18 points - in the last five games, TBV has only managed to gain one win.
• In contrast, the Füchse Berlin started the new year with a 36:19 victory against promoted team 1. VfL Potsdam, thus consolidating second place in the table (28:8 points).
• Mathias Gidsel, world champion, World Championship MVP and currently the best scorer in the HBL with 138 goals, has prematurely extended his contract in Berlin until 2029.
• Füchse won 27 of 38 duels in the league against the TBV, the last of seven Lemgo home victories came in June 2023. Berlin won the first leg 33:21.

Monday, 17 February:

• FRISCH AUF! Göppingen are in 14th place with 10:26 points and lost the last three games, including the 23:30 in Melsungen in the first game after the World Championship break.
• Eisenach, on the other hand, continued their upward trend with three wins in the last four games on Monday with a 34:31 win against TBV Lemgo and is currently in eighth place - also thanks to the 136 goals scored by Marko Grgic, the second most successful scorer in the league.
• Eisenach won the first leg clearly with 35:25, it was the second home win against FRISCH AUF! in a row. In Göppingen, however, the hosts are still unbeaten with four wins and two draws.