DEL Finals: Cologne lose it but the doubts remain

So Kölner Haie lost Game 4 of the finals on Sunday in dramatic fashion. The whole series remained at a dealock in almost every single game and these must have been the closest playoffs I have ever experienced in my entire life. Of the eight teams who made it to the post season at least six might have had a legitimate shot at the title. So the final series ended with a 3-1 victory of Eisbären Berlin, who, alongside with Adler Mannheim, dominated German ice hockey over the past few years.
Still some doubts remain because of the player who scored the winning goal in overtime last weekend. Florian Busch was exposed of missing a doping test soem time ago, a fact which under the laws of the national anti-doping agency leads to an immediate supension. Still the German Ice Hockey Federation DEB does not submit itself under the rules of the German national sports court and in this particular case it just didn't act. What happened was that Mr Busch got a visit from some inspectors of the NADA (National Anti-Doping Agency) on Maqrch 6th who are supposed to pay visits to athletes on an irregular basis without announcing that they are coming over to check on them. When the player Busch opened the door he excused himself, saying that he isn't able to perform a doping test right now, because he was, at the time, "in a situation of enormous stress". One has to wonder what that might have been? There was the case of a Belgium cycling professional who was asked by doping inspectors to perform a doping test when he was busy with arranging the funeral for his son who was killed recently. Now that's what someone would call a situation of enormous stress. But according to some newspaper articles Mr Busch didn't look like that apperently. He delivered a test hours later and that test was negative, of course.
There is some kind of concern regarding the anti-doping practices of the German NADA, especially when you keep in mind what happened in cycling over the past few years. German athletes had a record of using performance enhancing drugs in the past, and most of the success the athletes of the former GDR was built on a state financed program which encouraged athletes to use such substances. Sometimes athletes were even injected those drugs wthout them knowing it.
To my knowledge this is the first time this happened in ice hockey but it is extremely worrying how Eisbären Berlin chose to deal with the situation. The result won't be revoked and Eisbären are the champions now, but a bitter aftertaste and some doubts remain.

Edit:
What'S written in this article (in German) is that theer seems to be some action from the side of the NADA. Obviously they are not satisfied with the outcome and they are still waiting for the DEB to give them a reason why they let Busch play in the finals. They will refer the case to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and that body has the right to bring the case to the world's sport court CAS which can rule on the matter. So there might be something coming at the Eisbären in the future...

DEL Finals: Series tied at 1-1

The Kölner Haie tied the series against the Eisbären Berlin tonight at the KölnArena with a 2-1 win. Trailing 0-1 after one period they came back to turn the tide and win it in the final period with a goal by 40 year old Dave McLlwain. It seems like the Haie weren't able to convert their powerplay chances. Or were the Eisbären so good in killing the penalties? I have no idea.
Interestingly enough the Arena wasn't sold out and that came after all the buzz that was created around the championship series. I would have thought that it was a complete sell out but I was proven wrong. The series now moves back to Berlin on Friday.

DEL Playoffs: Cologne and Berlin in the finals

While the playoffs in the NHL are just getting started the German DEL is already in the final stages. The past few years haven't been very interesting in the domestic league with Adler Mannheim and Eisbären Berlin splitting up titles every year. It has been especially frustrating for my local team, Kölner Haie, who enter a season each year as one of the big favourites and then fail miserably in the playoffs. They won their last title (of eight in total) in 2002 and have made some impressive shots at the championship since then, but there weren't successful at all. At least they could find comfort in the fact that their eternal rivals from Düsseldorf, the DEG, haven't won anything either. Both teams were the dominating forces in German Ice Hockey in the 1980s and the early 1990s.
The draw for the playoffs offered the opportunity for a final which might have included those old rivals, but it wasn't meant to be. Still these playoffs seem to have been the most intense ones in a long time. Lots of overtime matches, one game in the quarterfinal matchup between Haie and Adler Mannheim going in to a record 7th overtime. Lots of close series, especially the one between the Frankfurt Lions and the Iserlohn Roosters (4-3) in which quite a few games went to overtime. So everything is set for a great final series which is a best-of-five game series.
Berlin and Cologne got at each other right from the start with the Haie getting a 10 minute suspension for Todd Warriner after only 2 minutes of play. This match was decided in a sudden death again and now the Eisbären lead the series 1-0. Still the euphoria in Cologne is huge. The team already sold 17.000 tickets in advance for Game 2 when the series will come to Cologne tonight. They seemed to have problems filling their arena over the season but now fans are eager for a championship team in this city. With the local football club struggling to get promoted to the first division and the local basketball team being on the verge of bankrupcy at the end of last year people look for a team which will give them something to celebrate. Because that's something the people of Cologne really like to do.

Pond Hockey in the big leagues

So I was watching this Winter Classic thing the NHL has set up his year as their big new year's spectacle. And I have to admit that this was rather funny. Open air ice hockey in a huge football stadium in Buffalo where the local Sabres took on the Penguins from Pittsburgh. I have to admit that I don't follow the action in the NHL very closely and I also don't keep track with what's happening in the German Hockey League (DEL), although I frequently take a look at how our local Kölner Haie (Cologne Sharks) are doing. I even went to see a couple of games at our local arena which was quite exciting. I always liked watching hockey, especially when they were showing international games on TV. The olympics are something I always look forward to. I'll never forget the final of the 2002 Olympics when Canada beat the USA.

Getting back to this pond hockey thing happening in Buffalo, as I said, it was really fun to watch. Although I have to say there were way too many breaks in the match because they had to repair the ice every now and then. And there was snow falling at the beginning of the game so that was another obstacle for the players as well. So there wasn't a real flow in the game at some points, but the atmosphere was really great, from what I was able to hear. Some very loud noise. In the end it was a thriller which had to be decided by a penalty shootout which Pittsburgh won 2-1. Great game.