GERMANY – On Sunday afternoon the Ingolstadt Panthers secured the last vacant spot in the playoff bracket when they defeated the Cologne Sharks 6-3 in the decisive game of their pre-playoff series. Cologne got off to a better start into the qualifying round when they then impressed with a 6-1 win in Ingolstadt in game one. The Sharks even got close to sweeping the series but they fell 2-3 in overtime on home ice. Even though Cologne led 2-0 after the first period of game three, they quickly ran out of gas and never really stood a chance.
In the other pre-playoff series the Augsburg Panthers showed no mercy with the Mannheim Eagles, who had entered the season as one of the title favorites. But after a 1-4 loss in Augsburg a 2-3 on home ice ended what was a sheer nightmare season the record-holding five time DEL champion.
With Mannheim finally out of the race and the DEG Metro Stars ending the regular season in a big slump with 10 losses in the final 13 games the big question at the start of the postseason is: Who will stop the Berlin Polar Bears? We take a look at the first round fixtures and rate the chances for each team in the “best of five” series that will start on Tuesday this week.
Eisbären Berlin (1st, 123 pts) vs. Augsburg Panthers (8th, 87 pts)
Berlin set a new regular season record with 123 points after 56 games, losing just 11 games in regulation and another three after overtime or shootout. So obviously the Polar Bears are the clear favorites. But beware: The Augsburg Panthers under coach Larry Mitchell are enjoying one of their best seasons in DEL history. With 201 goals they have the third-best offense and twelve away wins is an accomplishment they have never achieved before. So confidence should not be an issue. But probably it will not be enough for the Polar Bears who not only have the quality but also the depth within their roster. They lead the league with 209 goals and are third with 156 goals against ( Augsburg: 188). The season series was split, both teams winning their home games.
Prediction: Berlin will sweep the series, but at least two of the games will be hard-fought, maybe even requiring overtime.
Franfurt Lions (2nd, 98 pts) vs. Ingolstadt Panthers (7th, 89 pts)
Frankfurt was heavily plagued by the injury bug during the whole season. Especially with the long time injuries of veteran defenseman Michael Bresagk and star center Ilja Vorobjev have hurt coach Rich Chernomaz’s team badly. But in the end that only seems to have grown together. Jeff Ulmer (37 goals, 74 pts) is the league’s leading scorer, but with a total of 191 goals (5th in the league) the rest of the Lions were rather tame. Ingolstadt’s Thomas Greilinger (with 38 goals, 73 pts on the same level as Ulmer) led the Panthers’ offense to 205 goals (2nd in the league). In the season series Frankfurt won the first game on home ice in overtime, the other three games were taken by Ingolstadt.
Prediction: These two will go the full distance, with the better end for Ingolstadt.
Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg (3rd, 97 pts) vs. DEG Metro Stars (6th, 90)
Wolfsburg clearly has to be rated as one of the biggest surprises of the season, with third place overall being the best result in their four-year DEL history. Their two goaltenders Jochen Reimer and Daniar Dshunussow are the prototypes of the kind of player manager Charlie Fliegauf favors: talented young Germans. With a total of 728 penalty minutes the Grizzly Adams lead the fair-play ranking – might this be a hint for a lack of aggressiveness that is required against the experienced roster of the DEG Metro Stars. After a disastrous last third of the season with eight losses in eleven games manager Lance Nethery released coach Harold Kreis after 54 of 56 games and took over the job behind the bench for the remainder of the season. For the playoffs he will hope that is team was able to recover during the pre-playoff break and will find its confidence back. The only constants in terms of performance over the span of the season were goalie Jean-Sebastien Aubin (54 games, 2,45 gaa) and captain and fan favorite Daniel Kreutzer. Both teams have not shown too much offensive power ( Wolfsburg: 192 goals, Düsseldorf: 181), but have the two leading defenses (Düsseldorf: 148 goals against, Wolfsburg: 152). The season series was split, with both teams winning their home games.
Prediction: Sorry, I cannot hide my sympathies for Düsseldorf – the Metro Stars will prevail in four.
Hannover Scorpions (4th, 94 pts) vs. Nürnberg Ice Tigers (5th, 91 pts)
This is not only the series of the two least offensive teams in the playoffs (Hannover: 169 goals, Nürnberg: 152) but also the only ones with a negative goal ratio ( Hannover: -8, Nürnberg: -6). So the fans probably will not be able to enjoy high-scoring affairs. Even less so since Hannover acquired star goaltender Travis Scott in November (29 games, 2,49 gaa), and Patrick Ehelechner is playing another standout season in Nürnberg (49 games, 2,59 gaa). With 21.23 percent the Scorpions own the second-best powerplay, the Ice Tigers are deadlast with 13.49 percent. Will that be the deciding factor? Add to it the playmaking skills of Hannover’s Norwegian center Tore Vikingstad (leading the league with 50 assists) and the answer might very well be “yes”. During the regular season Nürnberg defeated Hannover three times, Hannover won once in overtime at the Ice Tigers’ den.
Prediction: After four games Hannover will head into the next round.
Contact Carsten.vanzanten@prohockeynews.com
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