Munich, Germany - In the only game in the DEL on New Year’s Eve, the Hamburg Freezers ended 2002 on a winning note, recording their fifth straight victory. Bobby House scored his second straight game-winner as the Freezers edged the Hannover Scorpions 3-2 (1-1,2-1,0-0) Tuesday afternoon. The game also marked a special moment for the league’s oldest player Wally Schreiber, who set a new milestone in games played.

With a capacity crowd of nearly 13,000 on hand at Hamburg’s Color Line Arena, it was the visitors who did not waste any time early on. Set up by Todd Simon, Gilbert Dionne got the Scorpions on the scoreboard only 82 seconds into the contest. Jacek Plachta came up with the equalizer on the powerplay midway through the opening period. Moments before, Freezers goalie Boris Rousson had denied Fredrik Öberg on a shorthanded breakaway.

Jason Miller put Hamburg ahead 2-1 seven minutes into the middle frame, but Simon and Dionne teamed up again to tie the game at two apiece at 15:16 of the period, with Simon getting credit for the goal this time. The Scorpions then wasted a huge opportunity to take the lead when Rousson stopped yet another breakaway by Lorenz Funk. It came back to haunt them immediately when Bobby House made it 3-2 for the Freezers with less than two minutes to go in the second, picking up his second straight and league-leading 8th game-winning goal. The third period remained scoreless despite good scoring chances on both ends of the ice.

Hamburg’s Manuel Kofler had to be helped off the ice midway through the final period after a bodycheck from Scorpions forward Rob Murphy and was taken to a nearby hospital for precautionary measures.

Oldie Schreiber breaks 500-mark

40-year old Hannover Scorpions forward Wally Schreiber became the first player in DEL history to break the 500-game mark. He was honored prior to the opening faceoff and wore a special jersey with number 500 emblazoned on the back.

With 198 goals and 289 assists, Schreiber is only 12 points shy of the DEL all-time point record, which is currently held by Schreiber’s former Landshut Cannibals teammate Mike Bullard (499 points in 444 games).

Before the DEL was formed in 1994, Schreiber also played 281 games in the German Bundesliga, winning the German Championship with EC Hedos München in 1994, and 641 games in North America, including 41 with the NHL's Minnesota North Stars.
Kassel signs Slovak center

Elsewhere, the Kassel Huskies have signed Slovak forward Jan Lipiansky. The 28-year-old center, who was drafted 270th overall by the Philadelphia Flyers in 1994 but never played in the NHL, is scheduled to make his DEL debut next weekend. Lipiansky has spent most of his career with Slovan Bratislava of the Slovak Extra League.