The Düsseldorfer EG Metro Stars (1-5) finally got their first win of the season, crushing the Iserlohn Roosters (3-3) at home, 5-1 (1-1, 2-0. 2-0). Daniel Kreutzer opened the scoring 3:37 into the contest when Trond Magnussen’s feed from the right corner found him wide-open in the near slot. Roosters captain Robby Sandrock came up with the 1-1 equalizer late in the first, hammering a one-timer from the top of the right face-off circle past Düsseldorf’s second-stringer Alex Jung, who again started in place of the injured Andrej Trefilov. Defenseman Jeff Tory put the Metro Stars ahead 2-1 on the man advantage midway through the second, ripping a one-timer past Roosters netminder Michael Fountain’s stick side from the center point. Four minutes later, Pat Mikesch extended the lead to 3-1, knocking home the puck from the near left slot on another power-play opportunity. With the first win of the season finally in reach, Düsseldorf continued to cruise. Johan Molin made it 4-1 halfway through the third, netting home the rebound after a solo effort by veteran Christian Brittig. Brittig also assisted on the final goal of the afternoon. Playing short-handed, Clayton Young’s aggressive fore-checking forced a turnover in the Roosters zone. Brittig picked up the puck in the far left slot, faked a slapshot and passed it across to Young, who was waiting all alone near the right goalpost to cap the scoring 4:33 from the final horn.
Ice Tigers lose, Eisbären move back into firstDefender Mikael Magnusson converted the game-winning attempt as the Frankfurt Lions downed the Nürnberg Ice Tigers 3-2 (0-1, 2-0, 0-1, 1-0) after penalty shootout. The home win lifted Frankfurt (4-2) into third place while Nuremberg (4-2) dropped from first to second. With the teams skating four aside, Marian Cisar scored on his own rebound to put the Tigers on the board just two minutes in. Lions defenseman Francois Bouchard tied the game at 1-1, hammering a deflected shot past Nuremberg’s second-stringer Alfie Michaud on another 4-on-4 situation 3:30 into the middle frame. Frankfurt took a 2-1 lead when Jesse Belanger connected from the left slot on the power-play with 4:21 to go in the second. The Lions failed to put the game away, though, and Tigers forward Thomas Greilinger scored the late 2-2 equalizer with 47 seconds left in regulation to force a shootout decision.
Kelly Fairchild scored a pair of goals and an assist as the Berlin Eisbären rebounded from Thursday’s loss to Nuremberg with a 5-1 (2-0, 2-1, 1-0) rout of the Hamburg Freezers (4-3). The home win puts the Eisbären (5-1) back on top of the DEL table. Steve Walker and Fairchild tallied early to give Berlin a 2-0 lead after one. A lucky goal got Hamburg back into the game 3:18 into the middle frame when Oliver Jonas mishandled a shot from Jacek Plachta. Rob Shearer regained Berlin’s two-goal lead only three minutes later. The Eisbären then failed to take advantage of a three-minute power-play opportunity, including two minutes of 5-on-3. But Fairchild’s second of the night, a slapshot on the power-play, gave the hosts a comfortable 4-1 lead at the second intermission. Just after a power-play expired, youngster Andre Rankel capped the scoring at 5-1 with his second goal of the season 6:30 into the final stanza.
Krefeld gets back-to-back wins, loses DyckRobert Müller turned aside 18 shots on way to his second consecutive shutout as defending champions Krefeld Pinguine blanked ERC Ingolstadt 2-0 (1-0, 0-0, 1-0), improving their overall record to 6-2. Ingolstadt, who only play on the road until the opening of their new arena on October 3, dropped to 1-2. Set up by Pascal Appel, a wide-open Terry Yake opened the scoring 5:18 into the game. The game went back and forth until Marc Beaucage sealed Krefeld’s victory with an empty-net score at 18:30 of the final period. The win came at a high price, though: Pinguine defenseman Paul Dyck suffered a partial tear of the ACL in his right knee and will be out at least four weeks.
„I am very content with our performance tonight and our approach to the game,“ Ingolstadt’s head coach Ron Kennedy said. „We kept the game open till the final two minutes. We played well defensively, but we did not score. That was the difference tonight.“
„It was a typical DEL game“, remarked Pinguine coach Butch Goring. “Ingolstadt played a very solid game. I think Robert Müller is the best goalie in the league and he proved that again tonight. He was the key in tonight’s victory.“
Mannheim skates past FreiburgRene Corbet recorded three assists and defenseman Andy Roach scored a goal and an assist as the Mannheim Adler skated past the Freiburger Wölfe, 4-2 (0-1, 3-1, 1-0). Although Mannheim clearly dominated the first period, it was Freiburg that drew first blood at 12:05 of the first when Jiri Zelenka capped an odd-man rush, one-timing Leo Stefan’s nice cross pass over the glove of diving netminder Marc Seliger. Mannheim tied the game when Todd Hlushko knocked home the rebound of a point shot from defender Andy Roach on the man advantage 4:17 into the middle stanza. Just two minutes later, Roach assisted again, finding Stefan Ustorf in the left slot with a nifty no-look feed from the right point. Ustorf one-timed the puck past outstanding Wölfe netminder Hugo Haas to give the Adler a 2-1 lead at 6:25 of the second. Freiburg responded almost immediately. Set up by veteran defenseman Bedrich Scerban, Stefan sped into the Adler zone and sent a backhander at the net. The shot rang off the crossbar, but hit sliding Adler forward Tomas Martinec and trickled across the goal line to tie the game at 2-2. A big outlet pass from Adler defender Sascha Goc then sent Devin Edgerton on a breakaway who converted on the backhand to put Mannheim up 3-2 with 6:28 left in the period. The Adler put the game away when Martinec scored with heavy traffic in front of the Wölfe net to make it 4-2 at 11:14 of the third. Mannheim has three wins and two losses while Freiburg slipped to the bottom of the standings with a 1-4 mark.
Beardsmore strikes twice as Augsburg skates past CologneColin Beardsmore scored two goals, including the game-winner at 13:06 of the first period as the Augsburger Panther downed the Kölner Haie 5-2 (3-2, 1-0, 1-0). The first period turned into a true see-saw battle. Beardsmore opened the scoring on the power-play only 93 seconds into the contest. Cologne’s Sebastian Furchner scored the 1-1 equalizer only 22 seconds later. Another 36 seconds later, Ronny Arendt’s goal put Augsburg back ahead to make it 2-1 at 2:31 of the first period. The Haie tied the game again when Dave McLlwain scored on the two-man advantage midway through the period. The momentum swung again when Beardsmore tallied his second of the night with 6:54 to go to give the Panther a 3-2 lead at the first intermission. An apparent Panther goal was disallowed after video review early in the second, but defenseman Arvids Rekis scored just seconds later, at 1:17 of the middle frame, to double Augsburg’s lead to 4-2. A power-play goal from Duanne Moeser capped the scoring at 5-2 with 1:43 to go. Haie forward Jean-Yves Roy got hit in the face by a puck in the first period. The veteran lost a tooth and the stitches in his chin, but was able to return later on. Augsburg (4-2, 11 points) is in a four-way tie for third place with Frankfurt, Krefeld and Hamburg, Cologne is 2-4.
Kassel gets second victoryTed Drury had a goal and an assist as the Kassel Huskies beat the Hannover Scorpions 4-2 (2-1, 1-1, 1-0) at home to record their second win of the season. The Huskies also got scores from Paul Brosseau and defensemen Nick Naumenko and Ted Crowley, the latter two both on the power-play. Fredrik Öberg and Jeff Christian (powerplay) scored for Hanover. Both teams have a 2-4 record.