The German regular season was won by Adler Mannheim with relative ease, and now they and recent CHL qualifier Red Bull Munich await for their quarter-final opponents to be decided in the preliminary round. There is also one more Champions Hockey League berth at stake in the playoffs, with five teams in contention for it.
by Chapin Landvogt
Starting with the preliminary round, the DEL is opening up what promise to be very exciting playoffs that could host any number of surprises or be ended by any number of teams. Despite the records and where teams finished in the standings, nary a team was able to spend this season looking ‘dominant’ the whole way through, as only Adler Mannheim were able to win 30 or more games (33) in regulation time.
What’s certain is that the season is over for Kolner Haie, the Augsburg Panthers, Straubing Tigers and Schwenningen Wild Wings. The latter three teams feature some of the smallest budgets in the league. Koln, however, has the largest arena in Western Europe and entered the season as heavy favourites after having lost two DEL finals in a row. Not even making the playoffs makes them one of the biggest disappointments in league history.
| № | Club | GP | RW | OW | OL | RL | Pts | GF | GA |
| 1 | Adler Mannheim (A) | 52 | 33 | 3 | 2 | 14 | 107 | 173 | 123 |
| 2 | EHC Red Bull Munich (B) | 52 | 28 | 5 | 4 | 15 | 98 | 166 | 127 |
| 3 | ERC Ingolstadt (A) | 52 | 29 | 1 | 5 | 17 | 94 | 182 | 152 |
| 4 | Hamburg Freezers | 52 | 27 | 1 | 7 | 17 | 90 | 161 | 154 |
| 5 | Düsseldorfer EG | 52 | 24 | 6 | 3 | 19 | 87 | 157 | 151 |
| 6 | Iserlohn Roosters | 52 | 23 | 5 | 7 | 17 | 86 | 179 | 150 |
| 7 | Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg | 52 | 22 | 6 | 6 | 18 | 84 | 152 | 136 |
| 8 | Nuremburg Ice Tigers | 52 | 21 | 6 | 5 | 20 | 80 | 170 | 145 |
| 9 | Eisbären Berlin (A) | 52 | 20 | 7 | 4 | 21 | 78 | 162 | 143 |
| 10 | Krefeld Pinguine (A) | 52 | 20 | 7 | 2 | 23 | 76 | 156 | 168 |
| 11 | Kölner Haie | 52 | 19 | 4 | 6 | 23 | 71 | 124 | 149 |
| 12 | Augsburger Panther | 52 | 14 | 3 | 5 | 30 | 53 | 139 | 185 |
| 13 | Straubing Tigers | 52 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 32 | 45 | 103 | 168 |
| 14 | Schwenninger Wild Wings | 52 | 12 | 3 | 2 | 36 | 43 | 106 | 179 |
Preliminary round
Like many leagues, the teams that ranked seventh through 10th will now play a preliminary round, starting Wednesday. The eighth-ranked Nuremberg Ice Tigers (80 points) will host ninth-placed Eisbaren Berlin (78 points) in what will surely be an exciting series. Both teams experienced roller coaster rides this year, but have all the ingredients necessary for a championship. The key for Nuremberg will continue to be the league’s top scorer, former NHLer Steven Reinprecht, who had 21 goals, 67 points, and a +24 in 52 regular season games. He and his German linemates Patrick Reimer and Yasin Ehliz form the league’s most potent trio. Berlin can win a game at any time and made a crucial change mid-season when Uwe Krupp took over the coaching duties. The improvement has only been nominal to date, but the team continues to feature no less than seven players who were on its last championship team and a goaltender in Petri Vehanen who, with a .920 save percentage, is felt can win a series single-handedly.
On Friday, the seventh-placed Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg (featuring one of the league’s smallest venues) will take on a 10th-placed Krefeld Pinguine team that edged out Koln by five points in the standings, ironically first exiting the league’s lower ranks when they acquired ex-Shark Marcel Muller at mid-season, who went on to collect 19 goals and 35 points in 32 games. Eight points separated the teams in the standings, but Wolfsburg only allowed 136 goals against, the lowest amount of any teams other than first-placed Mannheim (123) and second-placed Munich (127).
In both cases, it’s anybody’s call in the best-of-three series and the winners of both will be facing either Mannheim or Red Bull Munich, depending on which team had the best regular season record. In either case, particularly a very deep Mannheim team is entering the playoffs as the heavy favourite, with Dennis Endras in goal, who has only become more and more solid as the season has progressed. None of the scorers on the team will wow you, but there’s international experience galore and four lines that can score or suffocate a team’s offence at any time.
At the same time, nobody sees Munich making a quick exit. Interesting has been the progress of young German goalie Niklas Treutle, who has 20 victories and 10 losses this season. Cast out by the Hamburg Freezers last season, he has flourished between the pipes for a team that quickly lost confidence in French national team goaltender Florian Hardy. Virginia native Garrett Roe has surprisingly become the top scorer for the team, scoring at a point-per-game pace in 51 contests while gathering a +21 rating. A big and deep blueline should have the team set up for the whole playoff run.
Other series
Upon conclusion of the preliminary round, third-ranked ERC Ingolstadt – the reigning DEL champion – will face off against the sixth-ranked Iserlohn Roosters, one of the league’s two big surprises this season. 28-goal scorer Brandon Buck leads a balanced Ingolstadt attack for a team that is entirely dependent upon German all-star goalie Timo Pielmeier, who played in all but one game this season. Any injury to him would place the Panthers in deadly situation. A solid defence that features seven blueliners with nine or more points, the team has played its best hockey down the home stretch. Opponent Iserlohn has been a thorn in the side of a number of opponents this year and German goalie Mathias Lange racked up 25 victories. With 14 players with 20 or more points, the Roosters have come at teams with a number of options while Dieter Orendorz and Colton Teubert have been shutting down opposition attacks with surprisingly effective aplomb.
The final series features fourth-ranked Hamburg against fifth-ranked Dusseldorfer EG, the league’s absolute-biggest surprise this year, with rejuvenated veterans Daniel Kreutzer, Jakub Ficenec, and Stephan Daschner joining up with the team’s dynamic Norwegian duo of Ken-Andre Olimb and Andreas Martinsen. The team’s success has been reinforced by late addition Tyler Beskorowany, a Canadian goalie who has not only won 26 games, but also the hearts and affections of a passionate Dusseldorf following. The Freezers on the other hand have one of the league’s top teams on paper and perhaps its best one-two punch in goal with Sebastian Caron and Dimitri Kotschnew, who however hasn’t responded well to what has become the clear back-up role. What has made Hamburg incredibly exciting has been mighty mite Kevin Clark, who led the league with 32 goals and likely would have been the DEL’s top scorer had the team not been held off the score sheet on the last weekend of the season.
Speaking of which, the Freezers are entering the playoffs having lost their last two games by scores of 5–0 and 9–0. The team is also uncertain if, when, and just how much key players Jerome Flaake, Garret Festerling, Matt Pettinger, Philippe Dupuis, and Druvie Westcott will be able to play and contribute. If the team can get these players in the line-up all at the same time, there’s little doubt Serge Aubin’s Freezers have as good a shot at the championship as any club.
CHL Implications
To be determined from a Champions Hockey League standpoint is who the final DEL participant in next season’s CHL competition is going to be. By finishing second overall in the DEL behind founder team Mannheim Adler, Red Bull Munich have ensured themselves one of the six spots in the CHL next season. This achievement should come as no surprise to ice hockey insiders, most of whom had Munich pegged for a top four spot in the standings as soon as proven winner Don Jackson took over the coaching reigns to begin the season. As a DEL head coach, Jackson has managed to win the championship in five of his eight seasons.
With Krefeld, Berlin, Ingolstadt and the aforementioned Mannheim serving as founder participants, whichever of the remaining playoff participants comes the furthest will qualify for a B-License in next season’s CHL event.