Despite a defeat against the Kölner Haie, the lead of leaders Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven increased on Friday (January 12th, 2024).
League leaders Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven stumbled in the DEL – and are still four points ahead of their pursuers Eisbären Berlin. On the 37th matchday, the Bremerhaven team lost 1:2 (0:0, 0:1, 1:0, 0:1) after extra time against the Kölner Haie, who had previously been beaten four times in a row, but the capital city team lost one to third-placed Straubing Tigers Disastrous final third with 2:6 (2:1, 0:2, 0:3).
The Canadian Jason Bast (40th) took the lead in Bremerhaven, which Jan Urbas equalized 117 seconds before the end of regular time. After 3:24 minutes of extra time, Justin Schütz decided the game for Cologne. The Eisbären conceded three goals to the Tigers in less than six minutes in the third period, and Michael Clarke (10th, 40th) and Marcel Brandt (24th, 29th) scored twice for Straubing.
Iserlohn and Düsseldorf continue to be in crisis
Defending champion Red Bull Munich had to admit defeat at the Nuremberg Ice Tigers 1:2 (0:1, 1:0, 0:1) and thus missed out on moving closer to the top group. There was no movement in the last three places in the table either. Bottom team Iserlohn Roosters lost to Adler Mannheim 2:5 (0:1, 1:2, 1:2) and suffered another setback after four wins in a row. They are five points behind the penultimate Düsseldorfer EG, who conceded 0:3 (0:1, 0:1, 0:1) at Schwenninger Wild Wings. The Augsburg Panthers remain in twelfth place after a 1:2 (0:0, 1:2, 0:0) draw with the Grizzlys Wolfsburg.
Frankfurt ends a month-long dry spell
Already on Thursday (January 11th, 2024), the Frankfurt Lions achieved the hoped-for liberation in the German Ice Hockey League after the expulsion of coach Matti Tiilikainen. In the first game after parting ways with the Finnish coach, the Hessians celebrated another sense of success against runner-up ERC Ingolstadt with 3:2 (1:0, 2:1, 0:1) after ten defeats in a row.
The team of Frankfurt’s interim coach and sports director Franz-David Fritzemeier moved up to eleventh place with its first win after a dry spell of more than a month. Ingolstadt, on the other hand, missed the jump to seventh place due to its fifth defeat in the last six games.
Markus Lauridsen (8th minute), Eugen Alanov (28th), Julian Napravnik (39th) ensured the Lions’ first win since the 4-2 win against Düsseldorfer EG on December 10th last year. Mathew Bodie (34th) and Andrew Rowe (46th) were only able to shorten the score twice for the guests.
23 saves from new goalie Hudacek
Otherwise, Frankfurt’s newly signed goalkeeper Julius Hudacek stood in the Ingolstadt team’s way: the Slovakian World Cup runner-up from 2012, who was brought to the Main from Czech first division club HC Kladno at the beginning of the week, shone with 23 saves on his debut in the Lions jersey.