Debacle for DEL top 4

There is not so much left by now from the superiority that league leaders Kölner Haie showed in the first months of the season. On Sunday they even lost at home 2-4 against the then still last of the table Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg, making it three consecutive losses with 0 points within 5 days. In an even match a double by Aleksander Polaczek and Kai Hospelt at the begin of the second period pathed the way for the guests from Lower Saxony. The Sharks came onto the ice with a lot of pressure in the third but had to see how the goal of their captain John Tripp was answered within less than a minute by Wolfsburg's Christoph Höhenleitner. The same thing happened to Tripp when he found the net another time at 57:07 in power play. The Sharks risked everything by pulling out their goalie early and Greg Moore punished them with an empty netter with one and a half minutes left to play.

The Adler Mannheim couldn't really take advantage of that Cologne setback as they lost themselves at home against the Hannover Scorpions. At least they took a point with them in overtime though. Craig MacDonald opened the score for Mannheim at 20:43 but had to see how the result was turned around by the guests early in the third period through Eric Regan and Stephan Wilhelm. Now Mannheim had to react and did so with agressive play, rewarded with the equalizer through Steven Wagner at 56:16 in power play. Gerrit Fauser then was the lucky game winner for Hannover in the fourth minute of overtime, making it 3 wins in 4 games for the Lower Saxons.

For Sunday's top game the Hamburg Freezers received Bavarian side ERC Ingolstadt. After a 1-1 in the first period a more effective Freezers team managed to go away in the second with a two-goal lead. In the end an empty-netter by Thomas Dolak made sure all three points would stay in Northern Germany. NHLer Jamie Benn added an assist to the 2-1 for Hamburg scored by Matt Pettinger.

The very young but also very talented Düsseldorfer EG managed to bring down top favourites Eisbären Berlin in shootout. With a hat trick Travis Turnbull put the DEG each time ahead but Julian Talbot, Tyson Mulock and Laurin Braun answered for the Capitals. In the shootout Turnbull crowned his stellar performance by getting another one to win the extra point for Düsseldorf. The Polar Bears from Berlin not even couldn't take advantage of the losses of the teams ahead of them but also had to switch positions with the Freezers and now are 5th while Düsseldorf stays on 13th position.

Straubing is back in the top 6 after getting 6 away points this weekend. On Sunday they beat the Krefeld Pinguine with 3-1. A 5 on 3 power play led to the guest lead at 27:18 but veteran Herberts Vasiljevs tied the match for the hosts in the same period. In the third though two late goals by Blaine Down and Daniel Sparre let the Tigers run away with all three points. After a weekend without points Krefeld even fell out of the playoff spots.

The Ice Tigers from Nürnberg won the Bavarian derby against the Augsburger Panther at home and underlined their playoff ambitions. Jason Jaspers brought the hosts in front at 09:15 with the men advantage but with only eight seconds left in the first period Ryan Thang scored the at this point lucky equalizer for Augsburg. That must have motivated the Ice Tigers as they gained their lead back just 26 seconds into the middle period through Dusan Frosch. A 5 on 3 PPG by Casey Borer was the decisive strike for the 3-1 Nürnberg win at 46:58.

Two teams with a completely opposing trend faced in Iserlohn. While the local Roosters had 5 wins in 6 games the guests from München had only won out of their last six games. As ice hockey is something you cannot predict at all time it was the EHC Red Bull from München that grabbed all three points. Martin Hinterstocker, Mike Kompon and Ulrich Maurer gained a solid three-goal lead for the guests until 45:21 but had to see how two late goals through Mike York and Michael Wolf put their win at risk again. In the end the small lead stood and München stays in fighting distance with the playoff spots. 

 

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