The first day of the quarter-finals in the playoffs of the German Ice Hockey League was overshadowed by two serious injuries.
In the 5-0 (2-0, 1-0, 2-0) of the Grizzlys Wolfsburg in the northern duel against the Fischtown Pinguins from Bremerhaven, Grizzly captain Sebastian Furchner had to be carried off the ice on a sedentary dazed.
Later in Munich in the 4: 2 (1: 1, 1: 1, 2: 0) against the already weakened Düsseldorf EG, DEG defender Nicolas Geitner was shot in the face with full force and also had to be taken to the hospital.
“It’s always terrible to see something like that,” said Geitner’s teammate Alex Ehl on “MagentaSport”. Düsseldorf had to end the game with only five defenders, as three important defenders were already missing: In addition to national player Marco Nowak, who had been injured for a long time, and Kyle Cumiskey, who was injured in the pre-playoffs against Nuremberg, Bernhard Ebner was also absent. The 31-year-old had just become the father of a daughter. Despite the failures, DEG put up a tough fight.
Grizzly Captain Furchner injured
Even worse was the failure of the experienced Furchner, who had to be treated by paramedics on the ice. “I don’t have any specific info yet, but I think he could at least talk. His movements afterward looked okay,” said Grizzly trainer Mike Stewart. Ex-Wolfsburg resident Phillip Bruggisser caught the soon to be 40-year-old on the gang and received a two-minute penalty for it. But his check was more unfortunate than unclean.
In the afternoon, defending champions Eisbären Berlin and Adler Mannheim had narrow victories. Match winner for the Eisbären in the 2:1 (0:0, 2:0, 0:1) against the Kölner Haie was national striker Leo Pföderl in his first game after a long injury break. Pföderl scored the first goal by Marcel Noebels (21st minute) and scored the second goal (31st) himself. For the Haie, who qualified tenth in the main round in the pre-playoffs, they scored 10,692 Spectators Lucas Dumont (54th).
Mannheim won 3:2 (1:1, 1:0, 1:1) at the Straubing Tigers and thus took away the home advantage from Lower Bavaria. Jordan Szwarz scored twice (12th/59th) for coach Bill Stewart’s team. Three wins are necessary to reach the semi-finals, the next games in the series will take place on Tuesday.