DEL (german hockey league), Wednesday 3/12 !! FIRST DAY of PLAY-OFFS

[chriscol]

Let's start the big show! record so far is 62-36 (+33.67)

last games of regular season came all in as expected, so tonight DEL is starting with Quarters and Play-Down (to avoid relegation to 2.Bundesliga---some kind of minor league).
All series will be BEST of SEVEN

Today's games starting at 1.30 pm ET

Düsseldorf(3) -Krefeld(6) : Düsseldorf to win (1.8) for 1 unit
That'S a big local rivalary..düsseldorf and krefeld are appr.20 km apart.Matches in regular season ended with 3 düsseldorf wins(1 in OT) and 1 krefeld win.
Düsseldorf got 3rd place with a strong finish in regular season. So they are really in good shape going in the play-offs. they are one of the top teams and i expect a series win for them. They are strong at home and although big rivalary with Krefeld,it seems that they like the match-up this year. they have done pretty good against their neighbor and home-crowd should be a big factor.
Krefeld clinched 6th place (and play-off spot) one game before end of reg.season. In last games they showed absolutely no effort- loosing 8-1 to Iserlohn- I predicted that lack of effort,but the way they handeled the non-important game was dangerous. TV-Announcer already stated during warm-up that they were lazy..after being 6-0 down after 25 min. they got frustrated and undisciplined (lots of penalties). even if you try to rest players..thats not the way to do it. this games will have a mental effect on tonights game and i expect at least a slow start from them.
Besides of that i like the home-tam in the first game anyway.
First game Düsseldorf
SERIES Düsseldorf 4-1

BERLIN(1)- Hamburg (8): NO PLAY TODAY

i first have to see the teams tonight, but i expect a much closer series than ranking shows.in 4 games this season 3 went to OT with Hamburg winning twice. Hamburg looked a bit tired on sunday, but they got the play-off-clinching-goal with 2.30 min. to play. Maybe tonight little let down by hamburg but overall i expect close games
SERIES: 4-2 BERLIN

KÖLN(2)- Kassel(7): NO PLAY tonight

i said before this season, i'll not play köln in home games and i'll will follow that tonight. too many close and low-scoring games. absolutely no value with them at home (away will be different).
Kassel got into play-off with last win on sunday and i expect here also a close series.actually kassel won the season series 3-1 over Köln (with 2 games in OT),but Köln will prevail as defending champ and with a very experienced team and coach

SERIES 4-2/4-3 Köln

Mannheim(4)-Nürnberg(5): NO PLAY tonight:

these teams met on last sunday. mannheim could have avoid this series with a win, but they got blanked 5-0 in nürnberg. what can we take out of this game? i dont think they lost on purpose against nürnberg,because they lost season-series 3-1 to them. also nürnberg got now fresh memory that they can beat mannheim.
These two teams have similar strength (experience goes to former champ Mannheim). Both teams struggled a little bit late in the season. Mannheim will win in an open series 4-3 by home ice and experience

SERIES 4-3 Mannheim

 

c: do you get to go to any of those games?

bb

enter..."The Hockey Zone!"
http://www.theprescription.com/hockey/hockey.asp

 

[chriscol]

BB: will probably some games in düsseldorf,if they reach next round

Recap first day:
Düsseldorf-Krefeld 1-2: Düsseldorf was better team,but in very intensive game special teams made the difference. Krefeld scored twice on powerplay,while düsseldorf could not score on pp although krefeld is one of the weaker team with 4 on5 in league.
example were 2nd period where düsseldorf played the first 9 min with 5 on 4, and then immediatly after that krefeld scored on it'S first SOG in period.....still close series with advantage düsseldorf

Köln-Kassel 1:3 Biggest surprise of the day.as i expected köln was struggeling at home. Both teams played extremely defensive minded (if you get chance to bet under in this series. do it..that style will not change,because of normal coaching and playing style of both teams). Köln lost first game in regulation since 3 month.
As expected,it will be tough series with close and low scoring games, but köln will get the win back in Kassel

Mannheim- Nürnberg 5-4: in an up and down game mannheim prevailed. lot'S more close games to come. home ice will be huge

Berlin-Hamburg: 4-2: very,very close game: hamburg took lead twice before conceiding 2 goals in last 2 min. special factor here (dont know if it has influence), both teams have same main sponsor (got same influence as owner in NHL).
will be interesting series, but berlin to win