DEL Playoffs Final preview : KOLNER HAIE v EISBAREN BERLIN

Well after a gruelling season in the DEL this season and the excitement of the Playoffs series we have 2 teams battling it out to be named the Deutsche Meister (German Champion) of the DEL for the 2012-13 season. Teams have been whittled down from 8 to 2 leaving just the Kolner Haie (Cologne Sharks) and the reigning champions of Germany double league winners the Eisbaren Berlin (Berlin Polar Bears) to fight it out for the D.E.L title in the Best of the 5 Series starting Sunday in Cologne as the Sharks hosts 3 of the 5 games in the series.

The series record between the two was tied at 2-2 with Kolner beating Berlin 6-5 in the 02 World Arena in Berlin in October as a tight battle in the first two periods was then cancelled out both teams found twine in a goal fest in the 3rd with the Sharks edging the game scoring 4 goals in the 3rd compared to Berlin 3 and gave them a 6-5 victory.

Eisbaren would gain revenge in the next meeting between the sides in Mid November as the Polar Bears shutout the Sharks on home ice after they scored 3 goals in the 2nd period giving them a 3-0 road win.

Both teams then met again 4 days before Christmas and Eisbaren gave their travelling fans a festive present as they beat the Kolner Haie 4-1 in Cologne again on their home ice despite being outshot by their hosts the Polar Bears took the win and were in a top 3 position at that point in time.

This season series was strange for the fact that the away side was to win every time in the 4 games played between them as in late January the side met for the final time and played out a 3-1 game in Berlin as Kolner took the victory with 2 goals in the final period with one being an empty netter to have the Sharks draw the series in the regular season.

However the Playoffs are a different beast altogether and the best team in the league can fall to the 8th place team or the top 4 could all lose to the bottom 4 sides in the playoff bracket, It really is a whole new ball game so to speak.

Kolner Haie got through the Quarter final stage fair easily as apart from losing Game 2 on the road they thrashed the Straubing Tigers 4-1 in the series with scoring big win margins over 6-1, 5-0 6-3 and in the last game of the series won in Overtime as they repelled the resistance of Straubing to win it 2-1.

They Sharks then faced off against the Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg in a 5 game series which they won fairly comfortably taking sweeping the series 3-0, winning the opening game 7-2 with a commanding performance and winning a tight game 1-0 at Wolfsburg and finishing it all off back in Cologne 4-2 and their performances in the whole playoffs has been dominating but will they be able to continue their dominance against the reigning Champions 2 years on the trot.

Speaking of their opponents for Eisbaren Berlin it`s Welcome back to them for the 3^rd straight year, and their road to the Finals has seen them travel on rocky ground at the start but eventually had a smooth passage to the final.

The Polar Bears started their quest of a 3-Peat with Hamburg Freezers in the Quarter-finals stage, and having struggled early on in the series especially in the opening game when they went 4-0 down in the opening period, Berlin scored 5 unanswered goals to go ahead in the game only for then Hamburg to tie and take it overtime which Eisbaren won winning 6-5 in OT.

Hamburg took the next 2 games with scores of 5-3 and an 8-4 victory in Berlin in game 3. But it was game 4 that was the key game as Berlin won the game in overtime again after they had to come back twice and eventually score the winner in OT to see them tie the series and they never looked back. Winning 3-2 in games 5 and 6.

Semi finals stage saw Eisbaren Berlin sail through as just like their finals opponents they too sweeped their semi final series beating the Krefeld Penguine 3-0, As they won the opening game in Krefeld 3-2  took a 2-0 series lead back home at the O2World arena in Berlin before returning back to Krefeld to complete the sweep winning 4-3 and so set up an exciting DEL Playoff series Finale with the Kolner Haie over a 5 game series and should be a evenly contested one, especially if the regular season series is any indication of what to expect.

The form side in the Playoffs is Kolner Haie as they have the most potent Offense in these playoffs and also statistically have the best net minder in the playoffs to with Danny Aus den Birken registering 2 shutouts in the playoffs and save percentage of 95.0% compared to Robb Zepp who is 7th in the goalie standings and is registering a 90.4% in these playoffs, So Berlin will need to be tighter at the back and defensively solid if they hope to win these playoffs.

Though Kolner themselves will need to keep tabs on the Eisbaren forward as well as Berlin have players who can cause them problems in TJ Mulock, Andre Rankel, Mads Christensen, Barry Tallackson and Therin Olver gives these players half a chance and the Sharks could well be seeing the red light a lot.