112 replies to this topic

[General:Moters]

At the beginning of this season, hockey fans in Cologne were stunned when they saw a familiar face on the website of the DEL team Kölner Haie - Brian Burke met officials of the Kölner Haie and both sides announced a partnership between both clubs...

The Ducks and Haie will work together in all sport-related and structural areas of the game and exchange experiences and oppinions. Scouting, practice-theories and coaching, youth development, training camps for prospects and merchandising are some of the areas that will be dealt with in close collaboration with benefit for both sides.

Link (German): Haie & Ducks partnership-announcement press-release

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Haie General Manager Thomas Eichin and former Ducks GM Brian Burke with the DEL trophy.

As a fan of both clubs, I decided () it was pretty obvious that a partner of the Ducks deserves its own topic. Here it is.

The Kölner Haie (abbreviation: KEC), eight-time German champion, of the DEL, Germany's elite hockey league.

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The LanxessArena, formerly Kölnarena, is the home of the Kölner Haie. With a capacity of up to about 18,700 it is currently Germany's biggest arena.
Averaging 12,318 visitors per game in the 07/08 campaign, Cologne ranked 2nd in Europe (only short of the SC Bern from Switzerland).

Just a few days ago, I reported about the Haie playing Mannheim in what turned out to be the second longest match played in hockey history, falling just eight minutes short of the record 176 minute-lasting matchup between the Detroit Red Wings and Montreal Maroons in March 1936.

Yesterday, the Haie eliminated last year's champions Adler Mannheim with a 4-1 win to clinch the series by the same result. Revenge once more was a delicious cold dish, as Mannheim swept Cologne 3-0 in last year's semifinals. I was happy to see Cologne's victory being mentioned on the Ducks official homepage...:

The Kölner Haie (Cologne Sharks), the Ducks' sister team in the DEL (German Ice Hockey League) advanced to the second round of the DEL playoffs on Wednesday with a 4-1 victory over Adler Mannheim. Kölner won the series, 4 games to 1.

* Anyway, I have to correct this sentence - "Köln" is the citiy's name in German; "Kölner" is the adjective for something from Cologne, therefore one can't put it the way the last sentence did. Just "Köln won the series (...)" would be fine...

I'll keep you updated once in awhile.

2o1o-2o11 Kölner Haie roster:
F Christoph Ullmann (27, GER)
F Ivan Ciernik (32, SVK)
F Matt Pettinger (29, CAN)
F Jason Jaspers (29, CAN)
F Phillip Gogulla (23, GER)
F Greg Classen (32, CAN)
F Ryan Ramsay (27, CAN)
F Jason Sixsmith (26, USA)
F Cory Urquardt (25, CAN)
F Daniel Sparre (25, CAN/GER)
F Brett Breitkreutz (21, CAN/GER)
F Gerritt Fauser (21, GER)
F Thomas Brandl (19, GER)
F Norman Hauner (18, GER)
F Marcel Ohmann (19, GER)
F Denis Palka (18, GER)
D Mirko Lüdemann (36, GER)
D Chris Lee (29, CAN)
D Ross Lupaschuk (29, CAN)
D Johan Akerman (37, SWE)
D Mike Card (24, CAN/GER)
D Moritz Müller (23, GER)
D Torsten Ankert (22, GER)
D Maik Blankart (18, GER)
D Nico Oprée (17, GER)
G Adam Dennis (25, CAN)
G Björn Linda (21, GER)
G Sebastian Kinader (17, GER)

Coach and GM: Bill Stewart
CEO: Thomas Eichin

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The official website of the Kölner Haie: www.haie.de
The official message board of the Kölner Haie: www.haie-fanprojekt.de

Last update on Agust 7th, 2o1o.

[ladiesandgentlemen]

Great post, G:M !

Look forward to the updates, and GO KöLNER HAIE!!!

[General:Moters]

15 teams play in the DEL. Right now, it's playoff time.

The first 6 seeds after the regular season (56 games this season, 52 next season) advance to the playoffs. In what is called pre-playoffs and has been introduced before the season started, the 7th seed plays the 10th and the 8th seed the 9th for the final two playoff berths. Due to this (in my oppinion: ridiculously stupid) rule, Cologne's arch-rivals from Düsseldorf clinched a playoff spot after finishing 9th in the regular season. They went on to beat the top seeded Nürnberg Ice Tigers in five games and made it to the semifinals.

While the quarterfinals are best-of-seven-series, the semifinals and finals are played in the best-of-five format. Again, I don't like it. The people in charge of the league seem to be learning (as the shootout was finally banned from the playoffs after last season), but they take too much time...

Results of the Quarterfinals:

(3) Kölner Haie vs (6) Adler Mannheim 4-1
4-3; 1-2; 5-4 OT; 4-3 OT; 4-1

(1) Nürnberg IceTigers vs (9) DEG Metro Stars 1-4
(2) Eisbären Berlin vs (7) Hamburg Freezers 4-1
(4) Frankfurt Lions vs (5) Iserlohn Roosters 2-3

The polar bears from Berlin will face Düsseldorf (DEG) in the first semifinal. Cologne will play the winner of the Frankfurt/Iserlohn series.

Great post, G:M !

Thanks a lot...

Look forward to the updates, and GO KöLNER HAIE!!!

... and that is just great to hear!

[General:Moters]

Added the current roster to the initial post.
Two former top10 NHL draft-picks in it...

[General:Moters]

After defeating the Iserlohn Rooster 4-3 in game seven of their quarterfinal, the Frankfurt Lions are Cologne's opponent in the semifinals.

[Dark Knight]

This is awesome...

The Ducks
The Pirates
The Lynx
The Haie

...are all in the playoffs

[ladiesandgentlemen]

Playoff hockey... the game at it's best!

Here's to deep runs for our teams

[Syko]

Hey G:M, nice Topic

I´m hope that you Sahrks will win it all this season...

my Hannover Scorpions unfortunatly had a goalie that is not good enough for the Playoffs, so they have gone out in the Pre-Playoffs against the Düsseldorf Metro Stars

[Still MIGHTY]

Thats great to see another Ducks affiliation in the playoffs

But I have a question.
As the Ducks' "sister team," what exactly are the terms of that relationship?
What do the Haie do for the Ducks, and what do the Ducks do for the Haie?
I don't know how that works.
Thanks for any clarification G:M

[General:Moters]

Thats great to see another Ducks affiliation in the playoffs

But I have a question.
As the Ducks' "sister team," what exactly are the terms of that relationship?
What do the Haie do for the Ducks, and what do the Ducks do for the Haie?
I don't know how that works.
Thanks for any clarification G:M

That is a damn good question.
It's probably mainly things fans do not hear much about. I can only quote what has been mentioned on Cologne's website:

The Ducks and Haie will work together in all sport-related and structural areas of the game and exchange experiences and oppinions. Scouting, practice-theories and coaching, youth development, training camps for prospects and merchandising are some of the areas that will be dealt with in close collaboration with benefit for both sides.

Link (German): Haie & Ducks partnership-announcement press-release
(As this question is probably coming to many Ducks fans' minds I included that quote in the initial post... )
Joe Gibs of the Ducks has been around for many of our games this season. Our Coach, Doug Mason, was said to be around the Ducks organization when season ends over here to get the opportunity to maybe learn from the coaching of the Ducks staff. A preseason game in Cologne is discussed. I'd expect it to become obvious in a little while in terms of Ducks using late round draft picks for talents they like in Cologne or maybe European Ducks prospects (I know, they are few ) coming to the Haie to be more in the Ducks focus. Or maybe, players from the Pirates who grow tired of the AHL coming to Cologne, when they don't believe in their shot at the big club anymore. We'll see.

Great to see some response and interest in this team from across the big pond.

In 45 minutes game one of the semifinals against Frankfurt starts. I'll write a little update when the result's around.
If you have some time on your hands and use sopcast - the game is supposed to be streamed. WATCH!

[General:Moters]

Semifinals, Game 1, April 1st 2oo8 @ Kölnarena
Frankfurt Lions @ Kölner Haie 1-7

0-1 Ma. Müller (03.)
0-2 Ciernik (19.)
0-3 Piros (19.)
1-3 Young (22.)
1-4 Ciernik (25.)
1-5 Trygg (27.)
1-6 Renz (51.)
1-7 Lüdemann (55.)

What a great win to start the series! Haie capitalized on their chances perfectly in the first period to take a commanding 3-0 lead after twenty. Ivan ("The Terrible") Ciernik is somewhat like the DEL-version of Ovechkin. He had 38 goals in 56 games of the regular season, now he has seven in the playoffs. Mirko Lüdemann ist worth mentioning as well. This guy is a poor man's Scott Niedermayer. Not sombody's who is totally broke, but somebody's who is just not as wealthy as others. When he was young and the NHL was still the old NHL people overlooked talent on the blue line especially from Europe. You needed a big body to be taken. Lüdemann (exceptional skating, great vision, outstanding hockey-sense, decent shot, great passing, wonderful leadership) right now would earn a spot on every NHL team - and yes, I think this does include the Ducks. But he's 34 years old now and will just enjoy the rest of his professional career with the team he's been with for 15 years now. And then there's Andreas Renz - one of those guys every team needs. A stay at home defenseman, battling hard for years, never giving up, huge attitude. Not the most talented hockey player, but sometimes, those get awarded. Today, Renz scored his first playoff-goal in eight years. It's been a stunning season for the warrior Renz - just one game after he scored his first regular season goal in two years he netted another. If that is not the ketchup-effect Teemu's been talking about, I don't know what is...

Ducks-related notes:
- best player for Mannheim in their 1-4 loss in the qarterfinal series against the Haie was former Ducks defenseman Pascal Trepanier
- Köln is facing former Ducks defenseman Jason Marshall of the Frankfurt Lions in the semifinals. He had been with the Haie last season but did not get a new contract with Cologne after finishing first in the league in penalty minutes...

Joe Gibbs, European representative of the Anaheim Ducks, received a text message from Brian Burke after the game. Burke was amazed and wishes "good luck for the rest of the way" and adds: "Go Haie!" On behalf of the Haie fans - thank you, Brian Burke!

[DropThePuck]

Congrats on this series first win! Wishing Kölner Haie continued success!

[Dark Knight]

Haie kicking some Lion butt

GO

[General:Moters]

Things started of very promising in game two - after scoring two goals in just a few seconds, Haie took a 2-0 lead. Just a few moments later, Frankfurt scored to make it 1-2. First period ended with a 3-1 Haie lead, outshooting Frankfurt 24-3, mainly due to 4-0 powerplayers. They dominated and had to capitalize even better. Frankfurt got back in the second to tie the game at 3. That's when I had to leave for playing soccer, therefore I can't really offer you any more than the result: Lions won 5-4 in overtime and tied the series 1-1. As the semifinals are played in the best-of-five format, we're now down to a best-of-three.

Game three will be in Cologne on Sunday, 6.30 p.m. MET, 9.30 a.m. PT.
15,000 tickets have been sold already, should be a great game. Go Haie!

[General:Moters]

Game 3 @ Kölnarena (attendance: 18,008!)

Frankfurt Lions vs Kölner Haie 1-2 OT

0-1 Gogulla (11")
1-1 Taylor (21")
1-2 Ciernik (75")

Haie take a 2-1 lead in the series and need one more win to advance to the DEL finals!

In the other semifinal, Berlin won it's home game and took a 2-1 lead over the Metro Stars from the forbidden city (Düsseldorf).

[Dark Knight]

Way to go Haie. Let's get the series wrapped-up!

[General:Moters]

Way to go Haie. Let's get the series wrapped-up!

Just got home from university and caught the final seconds of game four in Frankfurt.

Kölner Haie @ Frankfurt Lions 3-4

Lions forced game five. On Thursday, 18,000 people (hopefully) will see this team in the ultimate do or die, go or golf situation. None of the teams have won a game on the road in this series and the Haie are 5-0 at home this postseason.

The other semifinal will also go the distance, as Berlin lost at Düsseldorf.

[DropThePuck]

Aww, bummer!

Well, at least now the home crowd will be able to cheer Haie on to victory! Good luck boys!

[General:Moters]

Great news from Cologne...

Frankfurt Lions - Kölner Haie 2-3

Haie win on a goal from Lüdemann two minutes before the buzzer to clinch the series 3-2!
We're going to the finals, baby!

Opponent there is Berlin. They defeated our arch rivals Düsseldorf 3-1 and got their ticket to the finals.
All six games in the semifinals were won at home.

Berlin will have home ice advantage to start the best of five series starting Tuesday...

[Dark Knight]

Way to go Haie Now let's take down the wall...

[General:Moters]

Way to go Haie Now let's take down the wall...

Berlin is playing it's last games in their old, traditional arena, the Wellblechpalast (~ the currogated metal palace )... They are owned by the Anschutz group, who also own... the Los Angeles Kings! They built a pretty new and big arena where the Eisbären (polar bears) will play starting next season.

It's pretty amazing. NHL season started off with the Ducks and Kings facing in London, where Anschutz built another arena.
DEL season ends with a very real connection to this rivalry - the Ducks' partner team against another Anschutz team.

I hope I can get tickets for the eventual game four that would be in Cologne.

Something about German hockey fans: there will be a special train filled up with about 200 Haie fans that will go from Cologne to Berlin on Sunday morning, 5 a.m. to get to the game in Berlin. Hopefully they'll push the team and get rewarded for their trip with a great start into the series.

[General:Moters]

Good morning Ducks fans...!
Already up? Need something to focus on so that you will get your thoughts away from the NHL playoffs? This is the right place at the right time...

Currently on the way.

DEL FINALS, Game One
Kölner Haie @ Eisbären Berlin 2-3 OT

Sopcast Stream: WATCH!


* The game is currently in the 2nd period. The score after 20 minutes is tied at one. Berlin took an early lead, but Norwegian defender Matts Trygg equalized.
* Score still tied 1-1 after two periods. A few scoring chances on both sides, but goalies Robert Müller and Rob Zepp (Berlin) have been sharp; both teams like to play skilled hockey, not as much grinders as the Frankfurt Lions have been
* Berlin starts the last period with good pressure and strikes first - 2-1
* With two minutes remaining, Ivan Ciernik scores his 11th playoff goal in his 11th game to send the game to overtime, 2-2 the score!
* Warriner takes a stupid tripping penalty in overtime. Walker wins the game for Berlin

No matter if it is in Southern California or Cologne - taking penalties in playoff games is going to cost you.
Berlin leads the series, 1-0, going towards game two on Tuesday @ Kölnarena.

Not a good weekend for either the Ducks or the Haie.
Good thing is, our opponents will have to beat these teams two more teams, so the fat lady isn't even practising, yet.

Go Ducks, Go Haie!

[Dark Knight]

Ducks lost...

Pirates lost...

Lynx won...

Haie lost...

[General:Moters]

DEL FINALS, Game Two
Eisbären Berlin @ Kölner Haie 1-2

1-0 Walker
1-1 Piros (from Gogulla and Tallaire)
1-2 McLlwain (from Gogulla)

Sopcast Stream: WATCH!

Updates:

* Haie with about 10 mins of powerplay in the first twenty, couldn't capitalize
* Berlin forward Nathan Robinson received 5 mins + match penalty for a high stick resulting in an injured player (Sebastian Furchner); Robinson will automatically be suspended in game 3
* Score tied 1-1 after first period
* Haie will begin second period with almost 2 mins powerplay remaining from Robinson's penalty
* Haie still awful with the man advantage
* 1-0 Berlin. Scott Walker, scorer of the GWG in overtime in game one, off a slapshot after a defensive zone turnover
* Just seconds later: Gogulla rushes into the offensive zone, puts on the breaks, passes the puck to McLlwain - he puts it right under the crossbar to give the Haie their first lead in the finals, 2-1
* 2nd period over, Berlin still that one goal ahead
* Kamil Piros deflects a shot by Phillipp Gogulla past Rob Zepp to tie the game 1-1!
* Huge PK for the Haie! They kill 2 minutes, 80 seconds of those with two man down; 10 minutes to go in regulation
* Just seconds later: Gogulla rushes into the offensive zone, puts on the breaks and passes it to Dave McLlwain - he puts it right under the crossbar to give the Haie the first lead in the finals, 2-1!
* Attendance announced: 17,926
* Robert Müller saves the day with a stop off a scramble with five seconds left
* Game over! Haie win 2-1 and tie the series at one!

We're now down to a best of three series! Haie extend their winning streak at Kölnarena to twelve games (playoffs: 7-0).
Come on, Haie, now win in Berlin and get finish them off at home!

[ladiesandgentlemen]

Get the win in Berlin... GO HAIE GO