DEL weekend review

18 Nov 2012 | Dennis Mende

Cologne had to give up league leadership to Mannheim

Of course there is one big winner of this weekend in DEL and that is the new league leader Adler Mannheim (38 points). They won both their matches against the very ambitious teams of Ingolstad (2-1) and Hamburg (5-3) and now are positioned on top of the table with two points more than the Kölner Haie (36). The Sharks couldn't stop their negative trend and at home against DEL record champions Eisbären Berlin (0-3) they received their fourth consecutive loss, the third in a row at home. Also the national team break doesn't seem to have helped them. Berlin itself had a rather disappointing start on Friday with an overtime loss at home against the Krefeld Pinguine (3-4) but now they are third with 33 points.

The Hamburg Freezers (33 points) couldn't take advantage of their convincing 4-1 win over the Straubing Tigers on Friday as they had to switch positions with Berlin after their loss in Mannheim today due to the worse goal difference. Straubing follows them with the same amount of points. Against the Hannover Scorpions they earned a solid 2-1 win that never was in danger - When Ivan Ciernik scored for Hannover only two seconds were left in regulation. After a 5-3 home win against bottom side Wolfsburg they can be self-confident after the national team break. Hannover itself couldn't improve their situation further after their 3-1 win against Red Bull München on Friday.

ERC Ingolstadt defended their top 6 spot with an overtime win (4-3) in the Bavarian derby in Nürnberg against the local Ice Tigers who fell out of the playoff ranks after losing aganst the second-last in the table Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg on Friday. The Krefeld Pinguine are back in fighting distance with the top-6 spots after their surprise win in Berlin and now a 2-1 at home against Wolfsburg.

The Iserlohn Roosters beat the Düsseldorfer EG in the small NRW (North Rhine-Westphalia) derby, keeping them at the end of the DEL table. On Friday Düsseldorf had been already butchered in Augsburg (1-5). For Iserlohn it was the first game of the week, that sent them to the eight position. Last but not least, Red Bull München earned a more than clear 5-0 derby win against Augsburg that cuts the distance to the playoff spots to four points.