Ingolstadt and Düsseldorf complete Semis

Hamburg Freezers vs Düsseldorfer EG 1-2, series 3-4

After some unspectacular and nervous 29 minutes had passed, the game started to pick up fire on a Freezers powerplay. But not with a Freezers goal. Manuel Strobel started a run on a breakaway, got the puck from Daniel Kreutzer and buried it. 3 minutes later Hamburg could even the game, but had to thank a lucky coincidence for it. Kevin Clark fired a shot from the blue line, which Tyler Beskorowany could block, but the puck went up in the air, fell down behind him and he kicked it into his own goal. The game-winner came 28 seconds into the last period. Michael Davies’ and Daniel Kreutzer’s combination ended on the stick of Travis Turnbull, who got served with an open net and put it in. Hamburg tried everything and even had one puck hitting the goal post, yet it did not want to go in any more.

ERC Ingolstadt vs Iserlohn Roosters 6-1, series 4-3

Another game 7 for Ingolstadt. Their memories of their last one couldn't be any fresher. The last 7-game series in the DEL was won by Ingolstadt last spring when they won the championship against the Kölner Haie. But tonight it didn’t start great. With 4 minutes gone Cody Sylvester got Iserlohn ahead and the Roosters were the better team in the first 10 minutes. The game changer came when Alexandre Picard got the puck on the right wing and more or less tried to get rid of it, but the puck ultimately ended up in the net. 15 seconds before the first break Brandon Buck received the puck in the slot, let his opponent standing alone with a swift move and beat Matthias Lange through the five-hole. Afterwards the resistance of Iserlohn was broken. Benedikt Kohl, Christoph Gawlik and twice Jared Ross could set the score to 6-1 in the end. Ingolstadt will now host Düsseldorf in the semifinals.

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