Busy DEL Sunday

In recent years the Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg always have been an uncomfortable opponent for top team Kölner Haie. And so it was also today. Home side Cologne lay behind at the start of the second period due to a shorthanded goal by Kai Hospelt. Until the end of the period the guests from Wolfsburg took over the initiative but they failed to get another one. Instead Brett Breitkreuz tied the match at 41:53. With the first shot on goal in overtime Andreas Holmqvist won the extra point for Cologne in power play.

Adler Mannheim used the loss of points by Cologne and are themselves back on top of the league table after a solid home win against the Hannover Scorpions. Marcus Kink and Yanick Lehoux in power play pathed the way for the Adler win in the first period. Around "half time" Corey Quirk cut the lead to one for Hannover but only a minute later Alexander Foster answered for Mannheim. Adam Mitchell even added the 4-1 for the hosts at 45:43. Now both Cologne and Mannheim have 77 points but Mannheim has the better goal average.

In the duel of the "best of the rest" Eisbären Berlin only needed two goals by Darin Olver and Mark Katic to win against the Hamburg Freezers in a with 14,200 spectators sold out O2 World in the German capital. Eisbären goalie Rob Zepp earned his shutout with 29 saves.

Krefeld Pinguine finally ended a seven-game losing streak. On home ice they earned a very early three-goal lead until 10:47 against the Augsburger Panther after strikes by Sinan Akdag, Andreas Driendl and Martin Schymainski. This was also the moment when guest goalie Patrick Ehelechner was substituted with Leonardo Conti. The new man between the posts also couldn't avoid the 4-0 through Herberts Vasiljevs at the start of the second period. But the reaction by the guests through Ryan Thang, Stephen Werner and Peter Flache until 48:19 let Krefeld fear until the very last moment for their success. In the last minute the guests even tried it with an additional attacker instead of their goalie but they couldn't force the equalizer anymore.
 
In a Bavarian derby the Straubing Tigers gained an important win in their race for a playoff spot against ERC Ingolstadt. Michael Endraß, René Röthke and Tyler Beechey earned a 3-1 lead after 40 minutes for Straubing with an Ingolstadt goal through John Laliberte in between. Late goals by Derek Hahn and Sean O'Connor - the 3-3 only happend at 58:28 in power play extended the game to overtime. There it was Dustin Whitecotton who won the extra point for Straubing at 61:19.

In the direct duel for a pre-playoff spot guests Iserlohn Roosters grabbed an important shootout win against the Nürnberg Ice Tigers. In an even match Yasin Ehliz opened the score for Nürnberg at 30:53 in power play but Thomas Holzmann answered for Iserlohn at the start of the third period. After a scoreless overtime, Mike York and Mark Bell were successful with their penalty shot attempts and won the extra point for the Roosters who cut the deficit towards the pre-playoff spots to just one point.

Another team with an important win in their playoff race were EHC München who defeated bottom side Düsseldorfer EG on the road with 3-2. Blake Sloan, Brent Aubin and Klaus Kathan earned the guests a three-goal lead already in the first period. Around "half time" Calle Ridderwall answered for Düsseldorf in power play but the next goal by Marc-Anthony Zanetti at 59:09 came too late to force the equalizer despite playing without goalie in the remaining time.

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