Munich, Germany - League-leading goal scorer Jesse Belanger increased his season total to nine tallies as Frankfurt defended the number spot in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) with a late rally against Augsburg Friday night. Elsewhere on gameday 9, a late comeback by the Kassel Huskies spoilt the inauguration of the league’s newest venue, Ingolstadt’s Saturn Arena.

Belanger tallied two goals and linemates Pat Lebeau and Christian Kohmann each contributed a pair of assists as the Frankfurt Lions scored four unanswered goals to erase a two-goal deficit and beat the Augsburg Panther at home, 4-2 (0-1, 2-1, 2-0). Augsburg drew first blood when former Lion Rick Girard fooled Frankfurt’s netminder Ian Gordon with a nifty backhand shot from between the hashmarks midway through the first. The Panther doubled the lead at 13:19 of the middle frame when Bob Wren tallied the game’s only power-play goal. Coming out of the right corner, Wren cut to the net and went top-shelf on Gordon’s glove hand side to give Augsburg a 2-0 lead. But Frankfurt responded just a minute later and managed to turn the momentum on back-to-back tallies. Dwayne Norris’ feed from the left corner found defenseman Peter Ratchuk all alone at the left hashmark. Ratchuk’s wrister beat Panther goalie Magnus Eriksson low to the stick hand side with 6:28 left in the period. Just a minute later, Kohmann cycled around defenseman Christian Lukes in the left corner. His feed from behind the net set up Belanger in the near left slot for the 2-2 equalizer. Frankfurt kept pressing and got rewarded early in the third. With the first line cycling down low, Belanger again tallied from the left slot to make it 3-2 2:29 into the final stanza. Veteran defenseman Paul Stanton put the game away 3:31 before the final horn, wristing the puck home from the center point after a drop pass from Mike Harder.

Slump continues as Ingolstadt opens new home

The Kassel Huskies spoilt the opening of Ingolstadt’s brand-new Saturn Arena. With a sell-out crowd of nearly 4,700 in attendance, slumping ERC Ingolstadt squandered a two-goal lead and suffered its sixth straight loss, losing 4-3 (1-3, 0-0, 2-0, 1-0) after penalty shootout. Ingolstadt cashed in on their early power-play opportunities and seemed in control with a 3-1 lead after the opening period. But they failed to put the game out of reach and let the Huskies crawl back into it. ERC defenseman Phil von Stefenelli scored the inaugural goal in the new arena 3:31 into the contest. Set up by Thomas Schinko, he hammered a one-timer past Joaquin Gage's glove hand from the left slot to give Ingolstadt a 1-0 lead on a two-man advantage. Paul Brousseau tied the score at 15:32, wristing the puck top-shelf after Ted Drury's feed from behind the net. ERC Ingolstadt regained the lead on their second 5-on-3 opportunity of the day late in the period when Doug Ast knocked home the rebound after a point shot by von Stefenelli. They doubled the lead to 3-1 just 19 seconds later. Still up by a man, a feed from defender Jakub Ficenec found Sammy Groleau in the near left slot. Groleau one-timed the puck past Kassel’s well screened netminder Gage to make it 3-1 with 1:18 left in the period. After a scoreless second, Drury got the Huskies back to within a goal, converting a feed from behind the net from the near right slot to cut Ingolstadt’s lead to 3-2 2:40 into the final stanza. Although they were not really pressing for it, the Huskies managed to score the late 3-3 equalizer. Just seconds after a missed power-play opportunity, Kassel forced a turnover in the Ingolstadt zone. Matthias Trattnig backhanded the puck at the net. ERC netminder Jimmy Waite made a save with his left pad, but the puck kept trickling towards the goal line and Trattnig knocked it home to tie the game and force a shootout decision. While Sean Tallaire was Ingolstadt’s only successful shooter, Mikael Wahlberg and Stephane Robitaille converted on the other end of the ice to secure a road victory for the Kassel Huskies.

Nine-goal shootout between Berlin and Krefeld

Rob Shearer scored a pair of goals and an assist as the Berlin Eisbären edged the Krefeld Pinguine on the road, 5-4 (3-2, 1-1, 1-1). The defending champs outshot Berlin 34-18, but Berlin’s three power-play tallies made the difference in a see-saw game at Krefeld’s Rheinlandhalle. Just 73 seconds into the tilt, Berlin’s Kelly Fairchild opened the scoring on the first powerplay of the game. A pass by Steve Walker then sent Shearer on a 1-on-0 breakaway. He beat Pinguine goalie Robert Müller to double the lead to 2-0 at 4:08 of the opening period. Marc Beaucage put the Krefeld Pinguine on the scoreboard on their first power-play opportunity of the night three minutes later. Berlin reclaimed a two-goal lead on another power-play tally with 4:41 left in the first: Walker re-directed a point shot from Bradley Bergen. With Müller out of position, Shearer sent the puck into the wide-open net to give Berlin a 3-1 lead. Krefeld responded right away. Pascal Appel tallied on the man advantage to cut the score to 3-2 at the first intermission. Dennis Pederson put the Eisbären up by two again at 8:02 of the middle frame, scoring Berlin’s third and final power-play tally of the night. Beaucage got Krefeld back to within a goal with his second tally of the game, beating Eisbären goalie Rich Parent on a breakaway with 7:51 to go in the second. The table seemed to be set for the equalizer, but Krefeld failed to cash in on a two-man advantage late in the period. Berlin regained control when defenseman Keith Aldridge scored 4:55 into the third. Krefeld kept rallying, but a goal from Shayne Wright with 3:28 left was as close as the Pinguine could get.

Nürnberg Ice Tigers rally to beat Mannheim

Czech Petr Fical converted the game-winning attempt in the penalty shootout as the Nürnberg Ice Tigers came back from a 2-0 first-period deficit to down the Mannheim Adler 3-2 (0-2, 1-0, 1-0, 1-0). A mistake from Tigers goaltender Freddy Chabot set up Mannheim’s first goal. Chabot left his net to play the puck and got intercepted by Robert Hock. Tomas Martinec sent the puck into the empty net from near the boards to give the Adler a 1-0 lead midway through the first. Rene Corbet doubled the lead on the power-play, poking the puck home from the doorstep. The momentum turned when Robert Tomik beat Adler goaltender Marc Seliger on a breakaway to cut the score to 2-1 just 36 seconds into the middle stanza. Tigers head coach Greg Poss decided to replace Chabot with backup Alfie Michaud after a scuffle between Nuremberg’s starting netminder and Adler forward Jason Podollan. Marian Cisar came up with the 2-2 equalizer on the power-play 4 minutes into the third. Nuremberg failed to add on, though, despite a 45-second two-man advantage. Fical gave Nuremberg the win, converting the only attempt in the five-round OT shootout.

Hamburg keeps Iserlohn at bay

Bobby House scored a pair of first-period goals as the Hamburg Freezers jumped out to a 3-0 lead and held on for a 5-2 (3-0, 1-2, 1-0) road win over the Iserlohn Roosters. Hamburg had a comfortable 3-0 lead at the first intermission after House’s two tallies, including one on the power-play, and a late-period score from Steve Washburn. Iserlohn turned the momentum in the middle frame, cutting Hamburg’s lead to 3-2 on back-to.back power-play goals from James Black and Bryan Adams. But the Freezers regained a two-goal lead with a power-play tally of their own when Jacek Plachta scored 1:01 before the second intermission. Defenseman Darren van Impe put the game away with Hamburg’s third power-play tally of the night midway through the final stanza.

Cologne wins after 3rd-period rally

Defender Brad Schlegel scored a pair of power-play goals and two assists as the Kölner Haie came from behind and tallied three unanswered third-period goals to down expansion team Freiburg Wölfe at home, 5-3 (1-1, 1-2, 3-0). The Haie scored all their goals on the power-play, including three scores in 5-on-3 situations. Freiburg seemed to be on way to a big upset, leading 3-2 at the second intermission after goals from Boon, Vadim Slivchenko and Jiri Zelenka. Schlegel and Dave McLlwain had tallied for Cologne. Helped by Freiburg’s lack of discipline, the Haie managed to turn the momentum in the third.

Düsseldorf’s slump continues

Thomas Dolak scored an empty-netter in the final minute of the game as the Hannover Scorpions skated to a 3-1 (1-0, 1-1, 1-0) home win over the Düsseldorfer EG Metro Stars. Fredrik Öberg and Jeff Christian also tallied for Hanover, while defenseman Jeff Tory had Düsseldorf’s only goal.