The Düsseldorfer EG made short work of the lions and bought their ticket for the quarter-finals in the German Ice Hockey League (DEL) in the second game.
The detour via the pre-playoffs for Düsseldorf, who were only pushed out of a direct quarter-final place on the last day of the main round, is therefore as short as possible. Two clear victories were enough against the promoted team from Frankfurt. After the 5-0 home win on Tuesday, the Rhinelanders made short work of the 5-1 away win on Friday evening (03/10/2023).
Victor Svensson (12′) and Alec McCrea (16′) scored for the guests in the first third, Alexander Barta (22′) followed up. Shortly before the second break, Dylan Wruck scored the first goal for Frankfurt in the series (40th), but Alexander Blank restored the old distance (44th), before DEG captain Barta eliminated the last doubts (50th) and secured the quarter-final ticket for Düsseldorf. From Wednesday, DEG will meet ERC Ingolstadt there, which finished the main round in second place. From the quarter-finals, the “best of seven” mode applies.
“We didn’t allow much, played very disciplined. Everyone threw themselves in for the other.”said Barta at MagentaSport: “We have big plans and we have implemented them.”
Reimer’s great career ends
The Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven ended the great career of old star Patrick Reimer in the German Ice Hockey League (DEL). In the second game, the North Germans won against the Nürnberg Ice Tigers for the DEL record scorer 4:2 (2:0, 0:2, 2:0) and won the series 2:0. Bremerhaven won the first duel 3-1 at home, in the quarter-finals it is against the main round winner EHC Munich.
The almost 20-year DEL career of the former national ice hockey player Patrick Reimer ended with the playoff of his Nuremberg Ice Tigers – the now 40-year-old had already announced this in advance. Reimer, who has been voted the best DEL player three times and is the DEL record scorer, started his career at DEG in the 2003/2004 season. He played his 1069 DEL games exclusively for Düsseldorf and Nuremberg.
“There has only been ice hockey in my life so far. Now I’m happy that it’s changing a bit”said Reimer at MagentaSport, but he will certainly miss the sport soon. “It’s madness”, so Reimer to the chants of the audience, “A nice award. I’m just grateful.”
In front of 7,672 spectators in Nuremberg, Miha Verlic and Markus Vikingstad gave the Penguins from Bremerhaven the lead with a double in the sixth minute. In the second period, however, Fischtown slacked off so that the hosts equalized with goals from Tim Fleischer (29th) and Jake Ustorf (30th). Alexander Friesen (50th) and Jan Urbas (59th) made everything clear for Bremerhaven in the final section. The club is in the playoff quarterfinals for the fifth time in its history.