Munich, Germany - Rostislav Haas made a mind-boggling 51-save effort for his first shutout of the season as the last-place Freiburg Wölfe put an end to ERC Ingolstadt’s impressive eight-game winning streak. Elsewhere in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) on Tuesday, the first-place Berlin Eisbären also had their win streak snapped by a shutout loss at the hands of the hungry Nürnberg Ice Tigers. A late game-winning goal by Bobby House secured the Hamburg Freezers a playoff berth for the second straight year.

The second-place Frankfurt Lions, who were idle, also clinched. This caps a great turnaround for the Lions, who were supposed to be relegated to Division-2 after a dismal 2002-03 campaign, but remained part of the DEL when the Schwenninger Wild Wings had to file for bankruptcy.

Hamburg edges out Düsseldorf

Frankfurt’s cushion over the third-place Hamburg Freezers has shrunken to a single point. Bobby House notched a power-play goal with 4:25 to go as the Freezers edged out the DEG Metro Stars at Düsseldorf’s Brehmstrasse Arena 3-2 (2-1, 0-0, 1-1). Hamburg’s Steve Washburn opened the scoring with the only even-strength tally of the night 1:59 into the contest. Mike Pellegrims scored on the man advantage to tie the game at one apiece, but Hamburg regained a 2-1 lead when defenseman Shane Peacock blasted the puck past Andrej Trefilov on the power-play with only two seconds to go in the opening frame. The score remained the same until the 13:11-mark of the final period. Pat Mikesch tucked home the rebound of a point shot from Jeff Tory to even the score at 2-2. The Freezers got another power-play opportunity of their own when Pellegrims tripped House two minutes later. House seized the chance and ripped a hard slapshot from the left face-off circle between Andrej Trefilov’s glove hand and the near post for the game-winning goal.

Haas stuns Ingolstadt, Nuremberg moves back to 4th

Freiburg’s goaltender Rostislav “Hugo” Haas earned his first shutout of the season the hard way. Haas put on a clinic and turned aside 51 shots as the last-place Freiburg Wölfe blanked ERC Ingolstadt 3-0 (1-0, 2-0) – the highest number of saves in a shutout win this season. Dany Bousquet, Jiri Zelenka and Rhavyl Khaydarov provided the scoring for the “Wolves”, who recorded their third straight home victory and snapped Ingolstadt’s eight-game win streak.

Fredric Chabot also posted a shutout, his third of the season, as the Nürnberg Ice Tigers swept the four-game season series with the Berlin Eisbären. Chabot stopped 27 shots as Nuremberg won 3-0 (0-0, 1-0, 2-0) at Berlin’s Wellblechpalast. A short-handed goal byMarian Cisar broke the deadlock at 11:21 of the middle frame. Greg Leeb’s tally midway through the final stanza put the game out of reach. Thomas Greilinger capped the scoring with an empty-netter at 17:56, the Tigers’ second shorthander of the night. The win moved Nuremberg past Ingolstadt in the standings, back into fourth place.

Krefeld improves to 4-2 under Stewart, Hanover headed for relegation series

Meanwhile, the slumping Hannover Scorpions have their backs to the wall. A pair of goals from former Penguin Patrik Augusta was not enough as Hanover was edged out 3-2 (0-0, 1-1, 2-1) by the Krefeld Pinguine. The Scorpions, who are next to last in the standings, already trail Krefeld by 10 and Iserlohn by 8 points, and may likely end up facing Freiburg in the “DEL playdowns”, a best-of-seven relegation series between the two last place teams. The Krefeld Penguins have won three straight and are 4–2 under new head coach Bill Stewart. Chris Kelleher’s power-play goal at 9:33 of the final period broke a 2-2 tie. Defenseman Daniel Kunce and Marc Beaucage also scored for Krefeld.

Kassel virtually eliminated

The Kassel Huskies are virtually eliminated from playoff contention after a 5-4 (1-1, 3-2, 1-0, 0-1) home loss after penalty shootout to the Iserlohn Roosters. Matt Higgins got credit for the game-winning penalty shot. James Black and defender Erich Goldmann each had a goal and two assists.