Munich, Germany - Two big hockey games in German rinks Tuesday night: In a non-league game, the Mannheim Adler beat the Kölner Haie in the KölnArena to win a newly created competition, the “Deutscher Eishockey-Pokal” (German Hockey Cup). In DEL action, the 8th-ranked Hamburg Freezers made an important step towards the playoffs with a home win over the league’s top team.

In Cologne, two DEL teams faced each other in the final of the German Hockey Cup, a competition that was inaugurated by the German Ice Hockey Federation (Deutscher Eishockey Bund, DEB) last summer. It started out with 32 teams from the DEL, Division-2 (Zweite Bundesliga) and the amateur ranks (Oberliga) in late August. In best-of-one series, Mannheim beat Division-2 club SC Riessersee (5-1) and DEL rivals Berlin Eisbären (3-2 after penalty shootout), Augsburger Panther (3-0) and Nürnberg Ice Tigers (5-1) on the way to the final. Cologne downed Division-2 club EHC Freiburg (4-3) and DEL rivals Kassel Huskies (3-1), Schwenninger Wild Wings (3-2) and Krefeld Pinguine (4-1).

With 10,950 in attendance at the KölnArena, Mannheim took control with three late second-period goals and held on for a 5-4 (1-0, 3-2, 1-2) win over the Kölner Haie to claim the cup. Youngster Marcel Goc scored a goal and an assist, All-Star defenseman Andy Roach added three helpers for the winning team. Klaus Kathan put Mannheim ahead 1-0 just six minutes into the contest. The momentum seemed to be shifting in favor of Cologne when 17-year-old prospect Kai Hospelt and Dwayne Norris came up with second-period goals. Helped by a 2+2 penalty on Norris for an injury caused by incidental high-sticking, the Adler put four unanswered goals on the scoreboard, three of them late in the period, the fourth just 33 seconds into the final period: Rene Corbet (35:57), Marcel Goc (37:43), Mike Kennedy (38:40) and defenseman Chris Joseph (40:33). Defender Shane peacock gave the Haie a little hope, cutting Mannheim’s lead to 5-3 midway through the third. Norris second of the night brought Cologne back to within one, but they failed to finish their late rally successfully.

Big win for the Freezers

In the only game in the DEL on Tuesday, the first-place Berlin Eisbären increased their lead over the second-place Haie to six points despite losing on the road to the Hamburg Freezers, 5-4 (2-2, 2-1, 0-1, 1-0) after penalty shootout. Trying to hold on to the final playoff berth, the 8th-place Freezers widened the gap to the 9th-place Iserlohn Roosters to five points. Moreover Hamburg still has a game in hand (with a total of six games remaining).

With a capacity crowd of 12,759 on hand, Hamburg took the lead four times, but Berlin always came back to even the score. As on Sunday, Freezers captain Andy Schneider converted the decisive attempt in the OT shootout. Manuel Kofler, Schneider, Ted Drury and Peter Abstreiter provided Hamburg’s scoring in regulation. Rob Shearer, Rob Leask, Florian Keller and Brad Bergen scored for Berlin.

Deutscher Eishockey-Pokal

Here’s a complete breakdown of all the results from the 2002-03 German Cup competition:

1st round, August 27-30, 2002

Iserlohn Roosters at EC Bad Nauheim 0-1
Krefeld Pinguine at REV Bremerhaven 6-1
SC Bietigheim at SC Mittelrhein 7-1
ESC Dresden at Kassel Huskies 1-10
Eisbären Berlin at ETC Crimmitschau 5-2
Hannover Scorpions at EV Duisburg 1-5
Kölner Haie at EHC Freiburg 4-3
Heilbronner EC at Augsburger Panther 1-4
Frankfurt Lions at ESV Kaufbeuren 3-1
Nürnberg Ice Tigers at EV Landshut 3-2
Schwenninger Wild Wings at EV Regensburg 5-2
Adler Mannheim at SC Riessersee 5-1
ERC Ingolstadt at EHC Straubing 3-1
Hamburg Freezers at Lausitzer Füchse Weißwasser 3-0
DEG Metro Stars at EHC Wolfsburg 6-1
EC Bad Tölz at ERC Selb 1-4

2nd round, September 24, 2002

Hamburg Freezers at EV Duisburg 4-2
Adler Manneim at Eisbären Berlin 3-2 after shootout
DEG Metro Stars at EC Bad Nauheim 6-1
ERC Ingolstadt at Krefeld Pinguine 3-5
Schwenninger Wild Wings at ERC Selb 9-2
Augsburger Panther at SC Bietigheim 5-2
Nürnberg Ice Tigers at Frankfurt Lions 3-0
Kassel Huskies at Kölner Haie 1-3 (October 8)

Quarter final, October 22, 2002

Augsburger Panther at Adler Mannheim 0-3
Kölner Haie at Schwenninger Wild Wings 3-2
DEG Metro Stars at Nürnberg Ice Tigers 4-5
Hamburg Freezers at Krefeld Pinguine 3-4 (October 30)

Semi final, November 19/December 12, 2002

Krefeld Pinguine at Kölner Haie 1-4
Adler Mannheim at Nürnberg Ice Tigers 5-1

Cup Final, February 18, 2003

Adler Mannheim at Kölner Haie 5-4