Munich, Germany - Rob Shearer scored a pair of goals and an assist as the top-seeded Berlin Eisbären skated to a home win to take a 1-0 lead in their best-of-five semifinal series against the sixth-seeded Krefeld Pinguine Friday night. In Cologne, Dave McLlwain scored with 7:36 to go in regulation to lift the second-seeded Kölner Haie to a close series-opening win over the fourth-seeded Mannheim Adler.

In a meeting of former NHL coaches, Pierre Page’s Berlin Eisbären overpowered Butch Goring’s Krefeld Pinguine 4-1 (1-0, 1-0, 2-1). With a capacity crowd of 4,695 on hand at the Wellblechpalast, Rob Shearer gave Berlin a 1-0 lead when he scored on the rebound of Kelly Fairchild’s shot 8:18 into the contest. While Krefeld, which boasts the league-best powerplay in the postseason, failed to capitalize on its opportunities, Shearer struck again early in the second. He doubled the lead, knocking home another rebound after a point blast from defenseman Ricard Persson on the man advantage. The game slowed down significantly in the final period. The Eisbären put the game out of reach when John Emmons scored off Pinguine defender Mario Doyon with just over seven minutes to go in regulation. Steve Walker added a powerplay goal when he re-directed a blueline blast from defender Brad Bergen past Robert Müller. With less than two minutes to go in regulation, Pinguine defenseman spoiled Richard Shulmistra’s shutout bid when his shot trickled through the netminder’s legs.

Haie edge Adler

Alex Hicks scored a powerplay goal and two assists as the Kölner Haie edged the Mannheim Adler 3-2 (1-1, 1-0, 1-1) in front of 11,750 at the KölnArena. Mannheim started out well and took a 1-0 lead when Andy Roach’s feed from behind the net found Devin Edgerton right on the doorstep six minutes into the game. With Nick Naumenko and Francois Groleau in the sin bin, Hicks scored on the two man advantage to tie the score at 1-1 heading into the first intermission. Penalties continued to hurt the Adler, who were down at least a man for over ten minutes in the middle frame. Dwayne Norris gave the Haie a 2-1 lead when he scored on a bad-angle shot midway through the period, also on a two-man advantage. Late in the period, Tino Boos’s shot banged off the inside goalpost on a shorthanded breakaway. The scene was not reviewed by the official. However, TV reviews showed that the puck had actually crossed the goal line, a play that should have given the Haie a 3-1 lead.

Instead, Mannheim hung in and evened the score at 2-2 when Wayne Hynes knocked the puck home with heavy traffic in front of Cologne’s net. Mike Kennedy then failed to give Mannheim the lead when he got stopped by Haie netminder Chris Rogles on a breakaway. Just seconds later, Alex Hicks spotted Dave McLlwain wide open at the right post for an easy tap-in to make it 3-2.