By Boris Rousson
bo@prohockey.de

Hamburg, Germany - In the end, we could not put the Lions away... The 2003-2004 season is over for us. We are on the outside looking in to watch the DEL Finals between Berlin and Frankfurt. I hope Frankfurt wins, so at least we could say we lost to the champions...

Momentum shift in Game 4

We had our chances and we blew them... Game 4 was the big turning point. We had just beaten the Frankfurt Lions convincingly 7-3 in Hamburg in game 3, and they were very undisciplined and looked ready to be packed in. But they bounced back and game 4 was a real crazy game: 12 goals were scored! I set the tone to that game myself, I suppose, by giving the puck away to Jason Young only 3 minutes into the game, on our power-play. We tied it right away though, on the same power-play. In fact, 5 times they took the lead, 5 times we came back to tie it, until Young's passing attempt hit Gosselin's skate and beat me through the legs with 2 minutes to go in regulation time, on a power-play (one of these "great" too-many-men-on-the-ice calls...). That winning goal was just the fitting image of that game for them: the first goal I gave them, and they scored 3 very lucky goals...

They carried that momentum into Game 5. Not that we didn't have our chances. We had a lot of power-play time early in the game, including a short 5-on-3, but we could not beat Ian Gordon, who had his best game of the semi-finals. Their power-play was more opportunistic, with Pat Lebeau (during a 5-on-3!) and Jesse Bélanger scoring to give them a 3-0 lead halfway through the game. Purds [Brad Purdie] and Smash [Mike Smazal] scored within 3 minutes to bring us right back in the game. But Mike Harder scored the big goal for them, in the last minute of the second frame. We could not create much in the third period, even after killing a 5-minute boarding penalty assessed to Steve Washburn for hitting Lebeau, who acted like he was shot on the play (another trademark of the Lions...), yet came back on the next whistle. We traded goals in the last minute and that was it...

Fan-tastic! – Germany's new "Hockey Capital"

Our fans' support through the whole season has been once again absolutely fantastic! Within two seasons, Hamburg went from a city with very little ice hockey history to the best place in Germany and, in my opinion and experience, in the whole Europe for playing hockey.

The ovations we received the whole year, and especially during and after the last game against Frankfurt, were incredible. And the 2,000 people who showed up for the season-ending party made noise like they were 12,000!

So, on behalf of the whole team, I want to thank all of you who contributed to make Hamburg the new "Hockey Capital" of Germany... We will do everything we can to bring the championship next season... You all deserve it!

End of an era

Not much was said about it in the media, but this season really marked the end of the Max Fedra era in Hamburg. Max wasn't around at all this season, but he still has his fingerprints all over this team. He signed, during last season, a lot of the core players of this season's team. He also brought back Fearnsie and Hynesie [Kent Fearns and Wayne Hynes] from the Barons' years, along with Purds, Lambo, Greiger [Brad Purdie, Dan Lambert and Mark Greig] and most of the young German players... It is very sad that he wasn't here to finish what he started, but I can assure you that we, the players, haven't forgotten about him! Max, thanks a lot for everything!!

Also leaving after this season are 4 long-time Barons-Freezers: Schneids [Andy Schneider] to the DEG Metro Stars and Küni, Köppchie and Absche [Christian Künast, Patrick Köppchen and Peter Abstreiter] to Hannover... The season-ending party was very emotional for all of us, and a lot of tears flowed...

It will be a whole new beginning again, next August, when we start training camp. A lot of new faces will report to Hamburg, along with the returning players, with only one goal in mind: Make it one step further than this season...

Until then, I wish all the readers of prohockey.de and "Spider's Web" a wonderful summer, and I hope that you will all be back with me for another season!

See ya around!! Bo