Things remained exciting in the women's Bundesliga until the last matchday. The rankings for first, second and third place were still pending until the very end. ESC Planegg still needed three points to win the title, while Ingolstadt and Memmingen had to hope for two defeats for the penguins and at the same time score fully in the direct duels against each other.
The ESC met the Bears in two games in Bergkamen and were able to secure their seventh, much celebrated championship title with a 2-0 win on Saturday. In front of their coaches Michael Lehmann and Fabian Birk, who stepped in at short notice during the season, the players worked hard for over 60 minutes and fought for the title against a strong EC Bergkamen. The newly crowned champions also won the game the following day 3-2.
There was pure excitement in the games between Ingolstadt and Memmingen. After the Planegg Pinguins' victory, both teams went head-to-head for the runner-up position. He was able to play the first game ERC Ingolstadt win quite clearly with 4:1 on home ice. The next day was the decisive game in Memmingen. The host initially took the lead with two points, but the Ingolstadt team came back and passed the Indians with three goals. Five minutes before the end of regular time, the ECDC finally equalized and thus retained their chance of second place in the table. But it wasn't enough for last year's champions from Allgäu this year. After a goalless extra time, it was Ann-Kathrin Voog who finally scored ERC Ingolstadt secured the first runner-up title in the club's history with their goal in the penalty shootout.
Now the annual event is taking place next weekend in the Memmingen ice rink DEB-Cup tournament of the women's Bundesliga. The champions from Planegg will then face EC Bergkamen (4th) again and the newly crowned runners-up from Ingolstadt (2nd) will have to face Memmingen (3rd) again.
DEBLeague manager Marion Herrmann: “As the performance density of the four participating teams is very close, the spectators will certainly see exciting games.”
Game schedule:
Saturday, 18.03.
17.00 pm. ESC Planegg – EC Bergkamen
20.00 pm. ERC Ingolstadt – ECDC Memmingen
Sunday, 19.03.
10.00 pm 3rd place match
13.00 pm Final
There was also a celebration in Düsseldorf last Saturday. The women of the Düsseldorfer EG won the championship with a victory in the playoff final of the “2nd League North Women” and thus secured promotion to the Women’s Bundesliga.
Herrmann: “I am pleased to welcome a newcomer to the women’s Bundesliga. In addition to the many Girls Days in the clubs, I see the first successes here in attracting more women and, above all, girls to women's ice hockey.”