When powerplays go wrong – Freezers lose an important battle

A minute and 48 seconds had been played in the crucial game between the 9^th placed Hamburg Freezers and the Kölner Haie in 10^th spot, when a rather uncommon play brought the Sharks ahead. The referees had just signalled a delayed penalty against Köln's Alexander Sulzer, so the Freezers pulled goalie Dimitrij Kotschnew in order to have a 6-on-5 game situation. But then a pass back to the blue line got deflected towards the boards and bounced off in direction of an empty Freezers net with all Hamburg players out of reach to catch it before it finally crossed the goal line.

Obviously the LanxessArena in Köln was a madhouse after this. The cheers got even louder, when it was officially annouced that goalie Gustaf Wesslau got credited with the goal as he was the last Shark to control the puck.

Exactly a minute later former Sharks player Marcel Müller equalized the game on the powerplay, that initiated the historic events, but this could not change the momentum anymore. It marked also the last time that evening that any effort on a powerplay got rewarded for Hamburg. On the contrary, 4 minutes into the second period another powerplay went horribly wrong. While Sharks defender Pascal Zerressen was in the box for too many men on the ice, Philipp Gogulla could succesfully finish a break to give Köln yet another lead in the game.

A few seconds later Köln even draw one more penalty to give Hamburg a bit over a minute of 5-on-3 hockey, but the Freezers were not able to use it. At the 32:36 mark it was Jean-Francois Boucher, who set the final score to 3-1 for the Sharks, who now have a 3-point-lead over Hamburg and will try to defend their 9^th place until season's end.

Tight at the top

At the top of the league, it seems like we'll see a tight battle until the end of regular season. With only 4 points apart before the friday game day, the top 4 teams managed to shorten that gap to 2 points now. Munich could take over the lead again with a 4-0 victory over Nürnberg (including a 33-save shutout by Danny aus den Birken) from Berlin, who did not get rewarded for a late comeback attempt in their 2-3 loss in Wolfsburg.

Like Berlin, Düsseldorf also dropped down by one spot in the standings with a 1-2 loss in Straubing. The mishab of the top 2 was a good opportunity for the Iserlohn Roosters in 4^th place. Thanks to a 6-0 home win against Augsburg, they could close the gap to Düsseldorf. Mathias Lange needed 29 saves for his shutout.

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