Adler Mannheim win 7th DEL championship

For 28 minutes the game was a very balanced affair and nobody could really predict which team would take the lead here. The hero from last year’s DEL finals gave the answer: Christoph Gawlik came from the bench, jumped right into the slot, beating three of Mannheim’s defenders with his speed, got the pass in the right moment from Brandon Buck, failed on his first shot and then put in his own rebound. But Ingolstadt’s euphoria only stood for 3 minutes and was ended by a perfect Adler Mannheim combination for the equalizer on the powerplay. Jochen Hecht received the puck down low and played a one timer over to Kurtis Foster in the face-off circle, who had all the time and space you need.

The game kept its excitement even after Andrew Joudrey received a pass on the blue line and found the way all through Ingolstadt’s defense to give Mannheim the first lead of the game. Ingolstadt tried everything, but with half a minute left it was Jon Rheault, who intercepted a pass and fought his way through to the empty net goal. This goal also started the celebrations at home in Mannheim’s SAP arena, where thousands of fans, who could not make the journey down to Bavaria, gathered to see the game on the big video screen.

It is Adler Mannheim’s 7^th German championship and the first since 2008.

Tweets by @eurohockey