Munich, Germany - The Hamburg Freezers announced in a Wednesday night press release that Canadian head coach Dave King has been fired. Assistant Mike Schmidt, a former DEL head coach with the Nürnberg Ice Tigers, will assume King's duties for the remainder of the season.

Hamburg has been in a funk since lately, losing three straight and five of their last seven games and is in danger of missing the playoffs.

The 57-year-old Ontario-native, a former NHL coach with Calgary and Columbus, took reins in 2003-04. The Freezers finished 3rd overall that season with a 32-20 record and were elimated by eventual cha,pion Frankfurt Lions in the DEL Semifinals.

The Freezers are currently in 7th place in the DEL standings at 24-24. With four games remaining in the regular season, their once comfortable cushion in the playoff race has shrunk to five points.

According to sources close to the team, there has been a growing rift between King and his players during the past couple of months. NHL veteran Jim Dowd left the team for undisclosed reasons after an alleged dispute with King. Former DEL top scorer Brad Purdie has been an underperformer all year.

King's most ill-advised decision may have been the signing of standout goaltender Jean Sebastien Giguere with dire needs on both offense and defense.