Munich, Germany - Emotins were flying high on the weekend before Christmas in the DEL. The meeting between the third- and fourth-place teams Mannheim Adler and Düsseldorfer EG Metro Stars was overshadowed by a wild melee that saw nine players ejected and play interrupted for over 20 minutes.

With Mannheim leading 3-2 after an intense and entertaining opening period, things got out of hand in the middle frame. With the atmosphere already heated after several penalty calls against both teams, a vicious hit from DEG forward Jean-Francois Quintin against Devin Edgerton near the boards and instant retaliation from Adler forward Mike Kennedy in the form of a cross-check cleaned both benches. After several minutes of boxing and wrestling action, referee Frank Awizus decided to send both teams to their locker rooms. Awizus called a total of 272 penalty minutes in the game.

Nine players did not return for the remainder of the game. Düsseldorf's Mike Pellegrims, Bernd Kühnhauser, Xavier Majic and Mannheim's Chris Joseph, Steve Junker and Tomas Martinec all received match penalties and will be suspended for one game. Düsseldorf's Martin Ulrich and Mannheim's Wayne Hynes and Mike Rosati got game misconducts. Netminder Rosati was replaced by 17-year old Danny aus den Birken, who stayed perfect in his DEL debut, turning aside 16 shots in 30:41 minutes.

Stefan Ustorf (powerplay), Mike Kennedy, Todd Hlushko and Rene Corbet (powerplay) scored as Mannheim hung on for a 4-2 (3-2, 0-0, 1-0) win over Düsseldorf. Marc Beaucage and Gerhard Unterluggauer scored for the Metro Stars.

Köln and Berlin win

Alex Hicks scored back-to-back second-period powerplay goals as the second-place Kölner Haie snapped their two-game losing streak with a 4-1 (1-1, 2-0, 1-0) home win over the Iserlohn Roosters. Iserlohn took an early lead when Jeff Dessner scored on the man advantage 5:24 into the contest. With less than a minute to go in the period, Brad Schlegel's came up with the equalizer on a 5-on-3 powerplay. Cologne added three more unanswered goals, including Sebastian Furchner's first career goal with 1:06 left in the game.

Sven Felski and Rob Shearer had third-period tallies as the league-leading Berlin Eisbären rallied from a 3-2 deficit to edge the Kassel Huskies on the road, 4-3 (1-1, 1-2, 2-0).

Sandy Moger scored twice as the Krefeld Pinguine blanked the hapless Nuremberg Ice Tigers on the road, 2-0 (1-0, 1-0, 0-0). Pinguine netminder Robert Müller recorded his second shutout of the season.

Schwenningen shocks Frankfurt

After rallying from a deficit three times, ERC Ingolstadt got a point for a regulation tie but was beaten by the Hamburg Freezers after penalty shootout, 4-3 (1-0, 1-1, 1-2, 1-0). Hamburg looked like the winner when captain Andy Schneider put the Freezers ahead 3-2 with just 2:31 to go, deflecting a blast from Jeff Tory past ERC netminder Mike Bales. But Ingolstadt kept pressing. After scoring the late game-winner at Iserlohn Friday night, defenseman Chad Allan came up with another clutch goal, forcing the shootout decision with 1:49 left in regulation, hammering the puck low past Freezers goalie Boris Rousson. Ted Drury converted the winning attempt for Hamburg. In regulation, the Freezers also got goals from Jason Miller and Jesse Belanger (shorthanded), Sean Tallaire and Sam Groleau scored for Ingolstadt.

Behind outstanding goaltending from Ian Gordon, the last-place Schwenningen Wild shocked the Frankfurt Lions 3-0 (0-0, 0-0, 3-0) on the road. Despite dominating the game, Frankfurt could not find a way to get the puck past Schwenningen's Canadian goalie. On the other end, the Wings cashed in on their chances. After two scoreless periods, Dave Chyzowski, Vadim Slivchenko and Francois Fortier scored third-period goals to end Schwenningen's four-game losing streak.

Fredrik Öberg converted the game-winning attempt as the Hannover Scorpions downed the Augsburg Panthers on the road, 3-2 (2-0, 0-1, 0-1, 1-0) after penalty shootout. Hannover had a 2-0 first period lead after tallies from Gilbert Dionne and Peter Jakobsson (shorthanded), Öberg assisted on both scores. But Augsburg bounced back and tied the game at 2-2 with goals from Shawn Carter (powerplay) and Ronny Arendt.