Defeat against Wolfsburg: Krefeld before relegation – Munich defeats Nuremberg
Munich kept the upper hand against Nürnberg, Straubing celebrated a significant victory against Düsseldorf. Berlin secured a point against Ingolstadt and cracked the 100 point mark. Unlike Krefeld, which is on the verge of relegation.
Hanging heads with Lucas Lessio and Jeremy Bracco (r.) from Krefeld.
picture alliance/dpa
The Krefeld Pinguine are getting closer and closer to relegation from the German Ice Hockey League. On Wednesday evening, the two-time German champions lost 5-1 (0-2, 1-1, 0-2) against the Grizzlies Wolfsburg. DEL veteran Sebastian Furchner (12th), Jordan Murray (17th), Darren Archibald (37th), Spencer Machacek (58th) and Jonas Enlund (60th) scored for the Grizzlies. Lucas Lessio (30th) had scored the goal to make it 1-2 in the meantime.
For the bottom of the table, who had spoken of the title before the season, it was the fourth defeat in a row. Badly battered staff, the Rhinelanders struggled in vain against renewed bankruptcy. Already on Friday, the KEV will play Wolfsburg again against the second in the table, but then with the Lower Saxony. In total, the Krefeld team only have six games left to score.
“Frustrating. That also shows in the strength. We all know about the situation with the relegation,” said defender Dominik Tiffels at MagentaSport. The last of the preliminary round will be relegated to the DEL2 this year. The penguins had already announced that they would try to file a lawsuit. The club will “argue that it was an unfair competition,” managing director Sergei Savelyev recently told the specialist magazine “Eishockey News”.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, a number of DEL games were canceled, not all of which can be made up for by the end of the main round on April 3rd. In the end, the points quotient decides how the teams perform. However, the penguins are among the teams that are allowed to play all of the planned 56 preliminary round games.
After 50 games, the penultimate Schwenningen is already six points ahead of Krefeld (1.06) with a quotient of 1.18. The third from last Iserlohn (1.26) as a direct competitor also won on Wednesday against title candidate Adler Mannheim 6:3 (2:2, 1:1, 3:0).
Seventh victory for Munich from the past eight games
The EHC Red Bull Munich brings in the seventh win from the last eight games. Coach Don Jackson’s team won the Bavarian derby 4-1 against the Nuremberg Ice Tigers and secured third place.
The Straubing Tigers are still on the play-off course after beating Düsseldorfer EG 4:2, the Iserlohn Roosters decide thanks to a 6:3 over the Adler Mannheim the greatest fears of relegation. The Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven lost 2-1 to the Bietigheim Steelers after a penalty shootout.
Berlin breaks the 100-point mark
Berlin’s Zach Boychuk (left) against Ingolstadt’s Frederik Storm
IMAGO/Eibner
Berlin had to accept the second defeat in a row with the 2:3 after penalties. Only on Sunday did the polar bears lose 2:3 at the Düsseldorfer EG. With one point, the German champions broke the 100 point mark after 49 games.
In the arena at Berlin’s Ostbahnhof, the Ingolstadt team thought they were already on the road to victory: Chris Bourque (18th) and Justin Feser (33rd) shot out a 2-0 lead that lasted into the third period. But then Dominik Bokk (47th) and Zach Boychuck (54th) equalized for the capitals. Neither team scored in regular time nor in extra time, so the game had to be decided in a penalty shootout. The Bavarians had better nerves there, David Warsofsky converted the decisive penalty.
Kölner Haie with an important victory
The Kölner Haie celebrated an immediate victory in the fight for the pre-play-offs with a 2:1 in overtime at the Augsburg Panthers. In regular time, Mark Olver (16th) scored for Domstadt and Magnus Eisenmenger (27th) for Fuggerstadt. Nothing happened until the end of regulation time. In the ensuing overtime it was Maxi Kammerer (64′) who made the Haie celebrate.
Eagle sovereign
On the other hand, the Adler Mannheim celebrated a sovereign 4:0 win against the Schwenninger Wild Wings. However, the game was long stretches, as it expresses the result. Nigel Dawes brought Mannheim into the lead in the 25th minute. However, Schwenningen defended himself well into the final third, only Tim Wohlgemuth (50th), Ruslan Iskhakov (54th) and Andrew Desjardins (55th) increased the result in the final phase of the game. With the victory, the Eagles consolidated fourth place, which would mean home advantage in the play-off quarterfinals.