Sudden Death for Ice Tigers

Adler Mannheim vs Nürnberg Ice Tigers 4-3OT, series 4-1

Nürnberg entered the game with the unpleasant option of being expelled from the playoffs as the second team after EHC München. This must have been motivation enough to get them on the scorecards twice in the first period by Yasin Ehliz hammering in a powerplay goal and Leo Pföderl waiting for a pass from behind the goal right next to the post to stick it past Dennis Endras. Mannheim suddenly realized that the old saying about the last win being the hardest must be true and stepped up their game in the beginning of the second period, which resulted in 2 goals to even the game, Kai Hospelt on a powerplay and Frank Mauer on a breakaway, both goals setup by the duo of Jochen Hecht and Kurtis Foster. Nürnberg reestablished the lead 120 seconds later through Marcus Weber, just to see it vanish again when Christoph Ullmann converted a rebound of a Frank Mauer shot. The last period went by without any goals to see overtime decide game 5.

In the overtime Nürnberg experienced what the word Sudden Death means. Frank Mauer’s 3-on-1 goal not only ended this game but also the Ice Tigers‘ season, while Mannheim goes through to the semifinals, where they will face Wolfsburg.

ERC Ingolstadt vs Iserlohn Roosters 4-3OT2, series 3-2

Ingolstadt and Iserlohn are currently caught in a tight battle in every single shift. The Roosters even got fined as their fans got a bit too emotional in game 4 and the game had to be interrupted in order to get the confetti and beer mugs off the ice. As expected it was a tight battle tonight again. Ingolstadt’s Aaron Brocklehurst scored first on a powerplay after 7 minutes.

Then the game shifted towards Iserlohn as Chris Connolly got the equalizer 2 minutes later and after a missed penalty shot by Boris Blank it was Sean Sullivan 5 minutes into the second period giving Iserlohn the 2-1 lead. Again 2 minutes later the lead was gone. Alexandre Picard got it all even for Ingolstadt. 

When Dustin Friesen brought Ingolstadt ahead again 7 minutes into the last period, nobody dared to celebrate too early. For a good reason: Brent Raedeke scored the 3-3 equalizer with only 4 seconds left in the game and forced overtime to bring the decision. The hero emerged to be Jeffrey Szwez, who scored the game-winner after 2 minutes in the second overtime.

Hamburg Freezers vs Düsseldorfer EG 4-2, series 3-2

The Freezers, still only able to dress 3 lines, had the better start in a defensive minded first period through Thomas Oppenheimer, who scored after 10 minutes. Düsseldorf’s Alexander Thiel could equalize midway through the second period, but in the last period Hamburg’s Danish forward Morten Madsen caught fire and scored twice within 5 minutes, first on the power-play, then on even strength to lift Hamburg to a 4-2 win in game 5 as Michael Davies could only score one more goal for Düsseldorf and Adam Mitchell added an empty net goal.

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