Playoffs instead of second division
Cologne sharks show laughing revolver teeth
4/4/2022, 7:28 p.m
At the end of February, the Cologne Sharks are threatened with a big crash. The former German champion is about to be relegated from the German Ice Hockey League. They managed to turn things around within just one month. They end up making the pre-playoffs for the first time since 2019. They want more.
Uwe Krupp threw up his arms, patted his players on the shoulders appreciatively and beamed all over his face: Even before the end of the game, the Kölner Haie coach was celebrating the happy ending of an ice hockey drama that took the traditional club not into the second division, but led back to the playoffs.
“We had our backs to the wall,” said the former national coach after the 1-0 lead after extra time at the end of the main round against ERC Ingolstadt and recalled “the relegation specter”. At the end of February, the 56-year-old had verbally dismantled his team: “It was a mess, I’m fed up”. 35 days later, the eight-time champion, meanwhile penultimate and in dire need, made it into the playoffs for the first time since 2019.
On Tuesday (7.30 p.m. / MagentaSport) the season, which threatened to end in a nightmare, continues. Again against Ingolstadt, the Haie fight for a place in the quarter-finals. And for Krupp “the journey is not over yet”. Because: Since his general statement, the Haie have scored 15 points from nine games and not only managed to stay up in the league, but also finished tenth.
Relegation would have had fatal consequences
That was already clear before extra time on Sunday. That’s why Krupp and his players cheered when the score was 0-0 after regular time. “That can hardly be surpassed in terms of drama,” said Krupp. Almost 15,000 spectators in the Lanxess Arena cheered along – a backdrop that last existed before Corona. “The atmosphere was amazing,” said striker Maxi Kammerer at MagentaSport. “We missed that,” added captain Moritz Müller. The largest arena in the league, long empty during the pandemic, could now become a decisive advantage for the sharks. “Such a setting naturally carries you,” said Kammerer.
A month ago, managing director Philipp Walter calculated another possible season in the DEL2 and found the impending relegation “threatening the existence”. Now there are suddenly completely different perspectives: If Cologne prevails against Ingolstadt in the best-of-three series, it would be in the quarterfinals against Krupp’s former club Eisbären Berlin, the defending champions and top favorites.
20 years after the last championship title, the Haie are back when it comes to the silver cup of the German Ice Hockey League (DEL) – albeit as blatant outsiders. But at least the relegation specter has crumbled.