DEL – Köln sinks Berlin and takes revenge for the lost Finals

30 Sep 2013 | Markus Nisius

Revenge is a dish best served cold. In ice-hockey that saying makes even more sense, although the Cologne Sharks claimed yesterday's rematch of the 2013 Finals to be just a normal game.

It was the first meeting between the champion and the vice champion yesterday evening in Berlin’s O2-arena. Berlin wanted to end its losing streak, but the Sharks had something against it.

After a couple of good scoring chances in the first period for Köln, they could finally bury the puck in the net in the second. Philip Gogulla carried the puck on a 2-on-1 breakaway and had the patience to wait and wait and wait until he had Berlin’s defender exactly where he wanted to have him to play a perfect pass to the side. Thorsten Ankert picked it up, played the patience game himself to finally score on a wide open net.

Late in the period Köln used the second perfect pass that night to score again. Andreas Falk found the open spot in Berlin’s defense to send Chris Minard into the slot, who could finally celebrate his first goal of the season with a blast into the upper right corner. For him it was a huge relief as the Sharks’ top goalgetter of last season already had to face some critics for his scoring drought.

But Berlin didn’t give up and decided that 4 seconds is still enough time to cut the lead of the Sharks in half. On the power play Shawn Lalonde scored with the hardest shot of the game. The referees had to check the videos to make sure the puck was really in as no human eye could see it.

In the third period Berlin came out stronger and intensified the pressure on Köln, but the defense around the Swedes Daniel Tjaernqvist and Andreas Holmqvist was too strong. When they pulled the goalie, Köln won the puck and again it was the duo Falk and Minard, which provided the empty netter to make it 3-1 for the final score.

Köln is now in 4^th place and will face Hamburg on Wednesday, while Berlin is in free fall in 12^th position and is looking forward to turn it around when they travel to Düsseldorf to play the last team in the league on Wednesday.

The Wild Wings surprised with a 6-5 shootout win against Red Bull München and they even had the chance to make it three points. Schwenningen came out with a fire work in the first period and took a 5-2 lead by the 26^th minute of play. But Red Bull fought back and could secure at least one point due to two goals, in which Nick Palmieri had a say in.

Nürnberg defended its top position with a 2-1 against Straubing. Both goals came from former Colorado Avalanche forward Steven Reinprecht.

Krefeld though lost at home against Augsburg and is now even in points with the Kölner Haie. The reason for that was a former Shark on Augsburg’s side. Ivan Ciernik scored with 9 seconds left in the game to lift the Panthers to a 2-1 win over the Penguins.