Munich, Germany - The Kölner Haie and ERC Ingolstadt continue to share the top spot in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) after Friday's gameday 19. Chris Rogles made 22 saves for his fourth shutout as the Haie blanked archrival DEG Metro Stars on home ice. In Ingolstadt, Jimmy Waite posted his league-leading fifth shutout as ERC steamrolled the hapless Kassel Huskies. The streaking Berlin Eisbären moved into third place with their fifth consecutive victory.

Cologne blanks archrival Düsseldorf

Stephane Julien and Dan Bjornlie scored back-to-back within a 28-second-span at the beginning of the middle frame and Jean-Yves Roy added a late tally as the Kölner Haie blanked the DEG Metro Stars 3-0 (0-0, 2-0, 1-0) at KölnArena Thursday night. Haie goalie Chris Rogles made 22 stops for his fourth shutout of the season. Julien put Cologne on the scoreboard with a power-play goal at 1:24 of the second when he wristed a screened shot from the right point past Düsseldorf's Andrej Trefilov. Just 28 seconds later, Bjornlie doubled the lead to 2-0 on a very controversial goal. DEG defenseman Tommy Jakobsen was lying motionless behind the Stars' net after being elbowed by Tino Boos. However Swiss referee Brent Reiber let play continue and Bjornlie unleashed a shot from the left point which deflected off Alexander Sulzer's right skate into the net.

Said DEG Metro Stars head coach Butch Goring: "Our player got hit in the face by Tino Boos' glove and was down behind the net. It created sort of a power play goal. I don't know why the ref didn't blow the whistle."

Roy's goal with 4:35 left in the game rounded off the scoring.

Ingolstadt romps over Kassel

Defenseman Jakub Ficenec led the way with four points as ERC Ingolstadt skated to an easy 5-0 (2-0, 2-0, 1-0) home win over the hapless Kassel Huskies. Goalie Jimmy Waite stopped 23 shots for his league-leading fifth shutout of the season. Ficenec and Martin Jiranek each scored two goals on the night as Ingolstadt posted its third straight win. The Huskies have lost three straight and 10 of their last 11 games.

"We were on our heels after falling behind early on", said Huskies head coach Mike McParland. " Once again, we made too many individual mistakes. You are bound to lose when you give away two or three goals."

Just 2:19 into the contest, Ficenec hammered a one-timer over Corey Hirsch's glove hand after a behind-the-net feed from Nicki Mondt to give Ingolstadt a 1-0 lead. Jiranek doubled the lead on a power-play goal with 27 seconds to go in the opening frame. Craig Ferguson sped along the left boards and set up Jiranek with a drop pass who ripped a one-timer past Hirsch to make it 2-0. Mondt connected on a bad-angle shot after a nice dump-in from Ficenec and Jiranek added his second power-play tally of the night to extend the lead to 4-0 at the second intermission. Ficenec capped the scoring at 5-0 5:36 into the third, embarrassing Hirsch with a slapper from beyond the blueline.

Eisbären roll to 5th straight win
Steve Walker, Denis Pederson and Derrick Walser each had a pair of points as the Berlin Eisbären jumped out to a 3-0 lead and held on for a 4-2 (1-0, 2-0, 1-2) home win at Wellblechpalast over the Hannover Scorpions. While the red-hot "Polar Bears" recorded their fifth straight victory, Hanover has dropped five in a row. Steve Walker put Berlin on the scoreboard at 16:12 of the first with his team-leading ninth goal of season, scoring off a rebound of Denis Pederson's shot. Late second-period tallies by defender Micki DuPont and Sven Felski, who re-directed a shot by Ricard Persson past Hanover's Ilpo Kauhanen, gave the Eisbären a commanding 3-0 lead after two. Robert Hock put the Scorps on the scoreboard, 3-1, early in the third. But a power-play goal by Walser three minutes later dashed Hanover's comeback hopes. They managed one more goal when defender Dan Lambert scored on the man advantage with just over four minutes left.

Elsewhere in the DEL on Friday

Pat Lebeau led the way with two goals and an assist as defending DEL champion Frankfurt Lions thrashed expansion team Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg 6-2 (2-0, 2-2, 2-0) on home ice.

Eric Healey tallied the game-winning score in the penalty shootout as the Mannheim Adler edged the visiting Nürnberg Ice Tigers 5-4 (1-1, 2-2, 1-1, 1-0).

Adrian Grygiel notched a pair of goals, including a first-period shorthander, to lift the Krefeld Pinguine to a 3-1 (1-0, 0-0, 2-1) home win over the Iserlohn Roosters. The Roosters have lost four in a row while the Penguins improved to 3-2 under new head coach Bob Leslie.

Brandon Reid scored two goals, including the eventual game-winner on a man advantage at 10:54 of the opening frame, as the Hamburg Freezers kept the visiting Augsburger Panther at bay, 3-1 (2-0, 0-0, 1-1).