Munich, Germany - Christoph Brandner and Brad Purdie both scored a pair of goals as the sixth-seeded Krefeld Pinguine tied their semifinal series with the top-seeded Berlin Eisbären Sunday afternoon. After beating the fourth-seeded Mannheim Adler on the road, defending champion Kölner Haie is just one win away from another trip to the finals. Mannheim’s ownership and fans turned out to be spoiled losers, verbally and physically attacking the referee.

In front of a capacity crowd of 6,500 at Krefeld’s Rheinlandhalle, the offensive firepower of linemates Brandner and Purdie turned out to be too much for Berlin as Krefeld skated to a 4-1 (1-1, 2-0, 1-1) win, tying the best-of-five series at 1-1.

Just 68 seconds in, Sven Felski gave the Eisbären a 1-0 lead, redirecting Mark Beaufait’s feed from the right boards past screened netminder Robert Müller. Krefeld pressed for the equalizer and got rewarded late in the opening period. Brad Purdie’s pass found Christoph Brandner all alone in front of the net and he knocked the puck through Richard Shulmistra’s five-hole to tie the contest at 1-1.

With momentum on their side, the Pinguine continued to press. As a penalty to Berlin’s David Roberts was about to expire, Brad Purdie chipped in the rebound of Paul Dyck’s mighty one-timer to put Krefeld up 2-1 five minutes into the middle frame. Only three minutes later, Brandner dumped the puck deep into the zone and outwrestled two defensemen in the left corner. Purdie picked up the puck and skated around Shulmistra to make it 3-1. Berlin tried to answer back, but failed to get the puck across the goal line. With the net wide-open, a shot from Rob Shearer rang off the framework.

Ex-Ottawa-Senators defenseman Ricard Persson put Berlin back into the game 40 seconds into the final period. Off the faceoff, his wrister beat goalie Müller high to the stickside to cut Krefeld’s lead to 3-2. Poor scoring efficiency continued to hurt the Eisbären, though. Felski blew the best chance for the equalizer when he missed the wide-open net.

Brandner then put the game away with his second goal of the night. After a terrific outlet pass from Patrik Augusta, he cut through two defenders and squeezed the puck through Shulmistra’s legs to make it 4-1 with just over 12 minutes left in regulation.

Adler facing elimination and fine

The fourth-seeded Mannheim Adler are on the brink of elimination after Sunday’s 5-3 (1-0, 3-0, 1-3) home loss to defending champion Kölner Haie. Cologne has a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series and can wrap up the series at home on Thursday.

Not only are the Adler on the brink of elimination, the club also has to expect to get fined by the league for the alleged misbehavior of club owner Dietmar Hopp and some fans. According to head official Peter Chvatal, Hopp, founder of successful software company SAP, had stormed into the officals’ locker during the first intermission, yelling at the officials and threatening to get Chvatal kicked out of his job. Moreover, a linesman got spilled with wine from a VIP lounge window on the way to the rink and a man who tried to escort the officials to the parking lot, was attacked by fans. Investigations are still under way. Chvatal, who is the only professional referee in German hockey, was heavily criticised by the Hamburg Freezers in the first round of the playoffs. Just two weeks ago, Freezers sports director Max Fedra was fined about $2000 by the league for his remarks.

With 7,200 in attendance at the Friedrichspark Arena, Mannheim looked rather sluggish for two periods and fell behind 4-0 before starting a third-period rally.

Just 80 seconds into the contest, Fredric Nilsson put the Haie up 1-0 when he beat Adler goalie Mike Rosati through the five-hole after a nice feed from Ron Pasco on a 3-2 oddman-rush. The Haie doubled their lead 4:41 into the second period when Rosati mishandled a shot from Tim Leahy and Eduard Lewandowski sent the puck into the open net.

Cologne added two more goals late in the middle frame. Ottawa Senators draftee Stefan Schauer hammered a point shot past Rosati for his first-ever DEL goal. Adler coach Bill Stewart inserted Dimitri Pätzold in relief for Rosati. But Dwayne Norris scored on the powerplay from the near left slot to make it 4-0 before the final intermission.

Defenseman Nick Naumenko’s blueline blast on the two-man advantage put Mannheim on the scoreboard four minutes into the final stanza. Midway through the period, Mike Kennedy’s feed from behind the net found Devin Edgerton on the doorstep to cut Cologne’s lead to 4-2. Rene Corbet brought Mannheim to within a goal when he redirected Yves Racine’s shot through Chris Rogles’s legs with just over a minute to go in regulation - too late for a turnaround, though. Dave McLlwain sealed Cologne’s win with an empty-netter 24 seconds from the final horn.