GERMANY – The action displayed at the rinks of the DEL still keeps media, fans and all others involved guessing. Looking at the weekly results and at the league’s table one starts to wonder whether the figures are evidence of an extremely tight level of competition – or whether they suggest that some protagonists do not take things seriously enough.
Defending champions Eisbaeren Berlin (Berlin Polar Bears) seem to have gotten the message and last weekend got their act together. After they won at Wolfsburg on Thursday (4-3), they successfully took revenge for their season opening loss (3-8) against Kassel, by storming to a 9-4 home win against the Huskies. While the Polar Bear’s offense seems to have reached operating temperature goalie Rob Zepp has not necessarily found his form yet. In both games the 28-year old gave up goals on shots that did look like “easy pickings”. Despite this national coach Uwe Krupp named Zepp in Germany’s roster for the upcoming Deutschland Cup in November.
Berlin leads the league with 14 points from 6 games. Behind them with 11 points and one game in hand the Augsburg Panthers continue to impress. Coach Larry Mitchell’s team also enjoyed a perfect weekend with a 5-3 success at Hamburg and a 4-2 win against the Koelner Haie (Cologne Sharks), who therefore have to be content with 10 points and third position overall. What’s probably more important to them: They obtained bragging rights against their arch-rivals from 30 kilometers down the Rhine by beating the Metro Stars from Duesseldorf 4-3 in overtime on Friday night.
Which brings us to one of the league’s biggest “problem child”: The Metro Stars blew an early 2-0 lead at home against last placed Straubing Tigers on Sunday and lost 2-3 in front of a disappointing crowd of only 4,007 and dropped to 11th place (7 points). “It was a pathetic performance, which I have seen for the first time this season”, commented Duesseldorf head coach Harold Kreis. “The time for talking is over, it’s time for action now.”
It is a similar state of mind in Mannheim. Although the Adler (Eagles) ended a four-game losing streak by beating the Hamburg Freezers 4-3 in a hard-fought duel on Sunday and improving to 8th position (8 points), manager Marcus Kuhl is still disappointed: “I could not have dreamed of a false start like this. After a successful pre-season the disappointment is even bigger. But we will stay calm; there will be no major changes within the roster. The pressure traditionally always is generated from the outside, namely the media.”
This is exactly what can be witnessed in Hamburg, where the Freezers dropped from the top of the table to 13th position (6 points) after four losses in a row. “It is frustrating”, admitted coach Paul Gardner. “My guys did show quite an effort, but we were missing this little bit of luck.”
It will be interesting to see who will have luck on their side next weekend. Judging from what we have seen so far, it probably will be dealt out fairly amongst all teams …
Contact: Carsten.vanzanten@prohockeynews.com
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