The Düsseldorfer EG has to tremble for the playoffs despite another mandatory win in the German Ice Hockey League on the last main round matchday. On Sunday there will be a long-distance duel with Iserlohn. In the south, Schwenningen and Straubing are fighting for the playoffs.
In the German Ice Hockey League, the battle for the final playoff placements will remain exciting until the last main round matchday.
In the north, the Düsseldorfer EG and the Iserlohn Roosters will fight for the last playoff ticket on Sunday (2.30 p.m. / MagentaSport). On the penultimate game day on Friday, only the Grizzlys Wolfsburg qualified with a 4: 2 (1: 1, 1: 1, 2: 0) with the Straubing Tigers for the season highlight.
Three days after the furious 7: 1 against the Augsburg Panthers, the DEG fulfilled their duty again with the 5: 3 (1: 1, 2: 1, 2: 1) against the Swabians and thus overtook the Iserlohn Roosters who played at the EHC Eed Bull Munich 2: 4 (0: 1, 1: 1, 1: 2) lost. John-Jason Peterka scored the 2000th DEL goal for Munich to make it 1-0 (20th). The game was interrupted for minutes because of a broken plexiglass.
The Düsseldorf team will now have to compete in Munich on Sunday. The table runner-up in the southern group, who has long since qualified for the playoffs and the Champions League, won eleven of the past twelve games. “Whenever we play against big opponents, we are ready. We want to show that again on Sunday,” said Düsseldorf’s national defender Bernhard Ebner at MagentaSport.
In the south, Straubing and the Schwenninger Wild Wings are still fighting for the playoffs in a long-distance duel. Schwenningen suffered a bitter and unexpected defeat on the 37th matchday at 5: 6 (1: 3, 2: 0, 2: 2) after extra time against the Krefeld Pinguine. Arthur Tianulin excelled in the otherwise by far worst DEL team this season as a four-time goalscorer.
Schwenningen will play on Sunday against the Kölner Haie, who missed the playoffs for the second time in a row and thus caused a negative club novelty in the DEL. Straubing is playing against the Grizzlys again at the same time, this time in Wolfsburg.
League Primus Adler Mannheim, Munich and ERC Ingolstadt have already qualified for the quarter-finals that start on Tuesday. In the north, the polar bears Berlin, Bremerhaven and Wolfsburg are already through. For Cologne, Krefeld, Augsburg and Nuremberg, the greatly shortened and unusual season marked by the coronavirus pandemic ended on Sunday. From Tuesday on, the playoffs will then be played in “best-of-three” mode.
Until the champion is determined by May 7th at the latest, this time only two victories or titles are necessary per round and series. Two weeks later the world championship starts in Riga.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210416-99-236867 / 3 (dpa)
Statistics Straubing – Wolfsburg
Statistics Schwenningen – Krefeld
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