ERC Ingolstadt was the first team to fight its way into the semi-finals of the German Ice Hockey League (DEL) with an energetic performance. Adler Mannheim, after an equally splendid race to catch up, is only one win away from moving into the semi-finals. Ingolstadt beat the Düsseldorfer EG 7:6 (1:2, 2:4, 3:0, 1:0) after extra time and got the decisive fourth success.
Mannheim defeated the Kölner Haie 4:3 (0:0, 1:3, 3:0) in the fifth game of the series and celebrated their first home win thanks to two goals in the last minute. It was Mannheim’s third success in the series.
“Shooting a game like that shows a lot of character,” said double goal scorer David Wolf on “MagentaSport”: “It was a hard piece of work, but I’m very happy that we got it done. We never gave up and deserved to win.”
Red Bull Munich and Straubing Tigers sovereign
Red Bull Munich and the Straubing Tigers had significantly fewer problems. While the main round winner Munich clinched their third win in a row 4-0 (1-0, 3-0, 0-0) against the Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven, Straubing defeated the Grizzlys Wolfsburg in a similarly dominant manner 5-0 (0-0, 3-0 , 2:0).
The two Bavarian teams, like Mannheim, have the chance to advance to the next round on Sunday. Then there are away games.
Mannheim was trailing 3-0 at times on Friday, but then pushed for victory like unleashed. David Wolf (38th) and Matthias Plachta (53rd) brought the eagles back on. In the final minute, events came to a head. Again Wolf 32 seconds before the end and Nicolas Krämmer (both 60th) only 13 seconds later made Mannheim celebrate.
Ingolstadt also made an impressive comeback: At the beginning of the third period, the ERC was still 3:6 behind. After goals from Mirko Höfflin (50′), Wayne Simpson (58′) and Ty Ronning (60′), it went into overtime, where Stefan Matteau (63′) struck.