DEL playoff preview

Hamburg Freezers (1) vs. Iserlohn Roosters (10)

The Hamburg Freezers want to win their first ever DEL title after playing their best ever regular season since the München Barons were relocated to Hamburg in 2002. With impressive 102 points in 52 games the team beat Krefeld in the race for the first spot by 7 points.

The team only once made it past the quarterfinals in their first decade of existance where they lost against the later champions Frankfurt Lions in the semifinals of the 2003-04 season. Freezers' available top scorers are Jerome Flaake (44 points), Thomas Oppenheimer (38 points), Morten Madsen, Garret Festerling (both 37 points) and Philippe Dupuis (35 points). They will miss their second best scorer and team leader David Wolf (40 points) though who is out with a knee injury at least until April. Goalie Sébastien Caron had a GAA of 1.69 and a save percentage of .943 in his 23 appearance for the best record of any DEL goalie. Among the team's biggest stars is former NHL regular player (Ottawa Senators, Atlanta Thrashers) and current Freezers team captain Christoph Schubert.

Opponents Iserlohn Roosters were the last team to reach the pre-playoffs but went on to beat favourites EHC Red Bull München with 2-1 wins. Iserlohn only made the DEL playoffs twice in the past (quarterfinals in 2008; pre-playoffs in 2012). They will also miss their second best scorer of the regular season - Mike York (41 points) - who is out with a foot injury for the rest of the season.  

In the regular season both teams won 2 games each against each other. Everything but the next round for Hamburg would be a huge sensation though.

Both teams never met in a DEL playoff series.

Krefeld Pinguine (2) vs. ERC Ingolstadt (9)

For Krefeld their second spot finish in the regular season was the best regular season result of the team in its DEL history after three third spots. Their biggest success was winning the DEL title in 2003 against archrivals Düsseldorfer EG. Last season Krefeld lost with a sweep in the best of five series in the semifinals against later champions Eisbären Berlin who celebrated their title hattrick. The performances of his team earned Pinguine head coach Rick Adduono the honour to be elected as "Coach of the Year". Probably the best known players of the Penguins are 2014 Olympic players Mitja Robar (Slovenia) and Herberts Vasiljevs (Latvia). With Adam Courchaine (74 points), Kevin Clark (68 points) and Daniel Pietta (48 points) Krefeld not only have the regular season top scorer in their lineup but also two more top 10 forwards.

ERC Ingolstadt reached the DEL semifinals four times in the past. This season they qualified for the quarterfinals after surprisingly throwing out DEL record champions Eisbären Berlin with 2-1 wins which made the majority of hockey fans in Germany very happy as Berlin already had won 7 out of the last 9 championships. A player to pay attention to is ERC goalie Timo Pielmeier who was elected "Rookie of the Year".

In the regular season both teams won 2 games against each other. Both teams already met in last year's quarterfinals where Krefeld beat Ingolstadt with 4-2 wins! This time Krefeld should manage the semifinal qualification again.

Nürnberg Ice Tigers (3) vs. Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg (6)

The Ice Tigers from Nürnberg played a very convincing regular season fromt he first matches on and really deserved the third spot. After a 10th, 13th and 7th spot in 2011, 2012 and 2013 this means the return for the Ice Tigers to the elite of German ice hockey. So far Nürnberg twice reached the DEL finals in 1999 and 2007 but in both ocassions they lost against Adler Mannheim. In the 2012-13 season both teams met aswell in the playoffs when Nürnberg was beaten 1-2 in the pre-playoffs by Wolfsburg. If one player stands for the successful season of the Ice Tigers, it is Patrick Reimer who received both the awards for the "Forward of the Year" and "Player of the Year", being the best German forward in the league with 65 points. Team colleague Fredrick Eriksson (46 points) was chosen as "Defender of the Year". Another key player was definately veteran and former longtime NHL player Steven Reinprecht who collected 27 goals and 43 assists for 70 points.  

Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg reached the quarterfinals mostly due to a solid team effort. No player in offense really shined for himself. On the other side Wolfsburg was strong in defense and in his second year with the team goalie Sebastian Vogl had a 1.89 GAA with a .937 save percentage, by far the best record for a goalie who played 2/3 of all games throughout the whole season. Their biggest success in their short DEL history - they only played in the highest German competition for the first time in 2004-05 - was the win of the regular season in 2010-11 and reaching the playoff finals the exact same year where they lost with a sweep in the best of five series against Eisbären Berlin.   

In the regular season Wolfsburg earned 3-1 wins against Nürnberg but all the four games ended with just a one goal difference. This series should stay close till the end!  

Adler Mannheim (4) - Kölner Haie (5)

For both Mannheim (champions 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2007; finalists 2002, 2005 and 2012) and Cologne (champions 1995 and 2002; finalists 1996, 2000, 2003, 2008 and 2013) who have one of the biggest rivalries since the founding of the DEL in 1994 the 2013-14 campaing had many ups and downs. Both started well and were the favourites to stay on top of the standings but several long series of losses let them only get the places 4 and 5 in the end. For Mannheim head coach Harold Kreis the turnover came too late and he was fired 31 December 2013 by the Eagles. The new man behind the Adler bench was former national team coach Hans Zach who stabilized the team. For Cologne the regular season title looked possible for a long time but even worse they lost the home advantage in the quarterfinals after only winning 4 of the last 14 regular season matches.

Adler Mannheim and Kölner Haie met a total of five times in DEL playoff rounds. One of the was one by the Eagles, four of them by the Sharks, most important in the finals of the 2001-02 playoffs when Cologne became league champions. In the 2007-08 quarterfinals the two teams played in the second longest overtime in hockey history when the game between the two sides was won by Cologne only at 168:16 - in the 6th overtime period - with the 5-4 by Philip Gogulla. Cologne went on to win the series with 4-1 wins and reach the finals.

Both teams have several high calibre players in their rosters. For Mannheim these are national team goalie Dennis Endras and former NHl star Jochen Hecht. Cologne offers 2006 Olympic Gold medallists with Sweden Daniel Tjärnqvist and Mika Hannula. Both Slovenians in the roster, Ales Kranjc and Rok Ticar, played with their team during the 2014 Olympic Winter Games. Haie goalie Danny aus den Birken recorded a 2.25 GAA average and .924 save percentage in 39 games to be elected as "Goalie of the Year".

In the regular season both teams won two games each. An exciting playoff series between the two traditional clubs can be expected! Whoever advances to the semifinals is a favourite to win this DEL title!   

Schedule:

All series are played in the mode best of seven. The games start this Sunday and end on Sunday in two weeks. The dates are 16.03., 19.03., 21.03., 23.03., 26.03., 28.03., 30.03.! 

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