League-leading scorer Jesse Belanger and Dwayne Norris each scored a pair of goals and Pat Lebeau scored the game-winning attempt as the Frankfurt Lions got away with one, edging the Freiburg Wölfe 6-5 (1-1, 3-2, 1-2, 1-0) after penalty shootout on the road. With 23 points, Frankfurt (8-3) stays on top of the DEL, one point ahead of Berlin. Freiburg dropped to 2-7.
The second-place Berlin Eisbären (8-2) also needed to go to the extra session against the Iserlohn Roosters (3-7). Rob Shearer converted the game-winning attempt in the penalty shootout as Berlin edged Iserlohn 4-3 (1-1, 1-2, 1-0, 1-0). One day after the surprising dismissal of head coach Dave Whistle, the Roosters were coached by former assistant Teal Fowler. Berlin’s Kelly Fairchild tallied a pair of goals, including a power-play score, and also recorded an assist on a second-period goal by Denis Peterson. Eisbären forward David Roberts made his second appearance of the season after suffering a knee injury in the season opener four weeks ago. The Roosters scored all their goals on the power-play and even had a 3-2 lead at the second intermission after scores from Matt Higgins, Bryan Adams and James Black. Fairchild notched the game-tying goal 50 seconds into the third, knocking home the rebound of a point shot from Micky DuPont on the man advantage.
Nuremberg tallies five against HamburgBehind great goaltending from Alfie Michaud, the Nürnberg Ice Tigers (7-3) defended third place with a 5-1 (1-1, 1-0, 3-0) home victory over the Hamburg Freezers (6-4). The game was close for over 50 minutes until Nuremberg put the game away with three late scores. Hamburg drew first blood when Jeff Tomlinson’s feed from behind the net found Bobby House right on the doorstep on the power-play six minutes into the contest. The Tigers tied it when wide-open defenseman Stephane Julien one-timed a pass from Greg Leeb over Freezers goalie Boris Rousson’s left shoulder from the near right slot with 5:01 left in the first. Nuremberg caught a lucky break when a mighty blast by Freezers forward Mike Greig from the right faceoff circle rang off the left goal post. Vitalij Aab put the Tigers up 2-1 halfway through the second, ripping a one-timer past Rousson from the right hashmark. The game’s key play came at 11:44 of the final stanza. Jürgen Rumrich caused a turnover in the neutral zone and Marian Cisar beat Rousson on a breakaway to double Nuremberg’s lead to 3-1. Lasse Kopitz and Rumrich added late power-play goals.
Home victory for AugsburgThe Augsburger Panther (7-3) kept fourth place after keeping defending champs Krefeld Pinguine (5-5) at bay, 3-1 (3-1, 0-0, 0-0). Augsburg opened the scoring 121 seconds into the contest. A mighty blast from defenseman John Miner ricocheted off the backboards and bounced right to Björn Barta who knocked it home for the 1-0 lead. Only 48 seconds later, a shot from Colin Beardsmore was re-directed into the net by Panther captain Duanne Moeser’s skate to double Augsburg’s lead to 2-0. A power-play goal by Marc Beaucage put Krefeld on the scoreboard at 6:19 of the first. Only ten seconds later, Ronnie Arends hammered a slap shot past Pinguine netminder Robert Müller to give the Panther a 3-1 lead.
Kassel skates past CologneDespite being outshot 38-34, the Kassel Huskies (5-5) skated past the Kölner Haie (4-6). Rob Busch tallied a power-play goal and an assist as Kassel earned a 5-2 (1-0, 3-1, 1-0) home win. Just seconds after a Huskies power-play opportunity expired, a blast by Örjan Lindmark from the top of the left faceoff circle opened the scoring midway through the opening period. Busch deflected a point shot from Nick Naumenko past Haie netminder Chris Rogles on the power-play to double Kassel’s lead to 2-0 2:09 into the middle frame. Cologne got on the scoreboard when Alex Hicks scored on the rebound of Brad Schlegel’s blast on the power-play halfway through the period. Kassel responded less than two minutes later. Off a funny bounce off the linesman, Andi Loth went top-shelf on Rogles' glove hand from the near left slot to make it 3-1 on the man advantage. It did not take another two minutes until the Haie responded again. Coming out of the penalty box, Eduard Lewandowski stole the puck from
Kassel's defender Ted Crowley and scored a breakaway goal, beating Huskies goalie Joaquin Gage through the five-hole. Crowley was skating backwards and not able to see Lewandowski coming. He went down and had to be helped off the ice, but was able to return a few shifts later. The Kölner Haie continued to hurt themselves with penalties and Kassel regained a two-goal lead before the second intermission. Paul Brousseau made it 4-2 with 1:55 left in the second, connecting from the doorstep on a 5-on-3 power-play. Ted Drury capped the scoring 16 seconds before the final horn, after being set up nicely by Tobias Abstreiter on an odd-man rush.
Hanover stuns Mannheim, Düsseldorf crushes IngolstadtElsewhere, defenseman Steve Wilson scored with 1:54 left in regulation as the Hannover Scorpions stunned the Mannheim Adler on the road, 3-2 (1-1, 0-1, 2-0). Radek Krestan and Len Soccio (PP) also scored for the Scorps who came back from a 2-1 deficit after two periods. Robert Hock (PP) and Andy Roach tallied for Mannheim. Hannover improved to 4-6 while Mannheim fell to 5-4.
Defenseman Martin Ulrich scored twice and teammates Daniel Kreutzer, Pat Mikesch, Christian Brittig and Jeff Tory added power-play goals as the Düsseldorfer EG Metro Stars crushed ERC Ingolstadt at home, 6-3 (3-2, 2-1, 1-0). Günter Oswald had a pair of goals, including one on the power-play, for Ingolstadt, who suffered their sixth straight loss. Craig Ferguson scored for Ingolstadt, too. At 1-6, Ingolstadt remains on the bottom of the DEL table. Düsseldorf improved their record to 3-7.
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