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The Krefeld penguins against Schwentigen (in white, archive picture)
Photo: IMAGO/Eibner-Pressefoto / IMAGO/Eibner
The two-time German ice hockey champion Krefeld Pinguine has to retire after 31 years.
After the clear 1:6 (0:1, 1:3, 0:2) defeat on Wednesday at Adler Mannheim, the champion of 1952 and 2003 is the first sporting relegation from the German Ice Hockey League in 16 years.
At that time, the Kassel Huskies were relegated from the DEL.
Because of the defeat, there is no longer any hope of rescue for the penguins - they would only have lived on if they had won.
“When you show such a performance, then you have no more hope.
We can't just drive around and watch," complained attacker Alexander Blank in the second third break on the MagentaSport streaming service.
The favorites for the title, who had fallen back to fifth place after three defeats and therefore parted ways with coach Pavel Gross on Monday, had already conceded four goals to the Rhinelanders.
Ruslan Iskhakow (3rd and 23rd minutes), Nigel Dawes (24th) and Markus Eisenschmid (31st) scored.
Even in the final third nothing changed in the hopeless inferiority in front of 6176 spectators.
David Wolf (45th) and Tim Wohlgemuth (59th) ensured clear conditions under the new coach Bill Stewart, who should lead the Eagles back to the championship title as much as possible like 21 years ago.
Only one goal by Michael Hoeffel (26th) was not enough for the penguins, who can no longer leave the last place in the table in the last two preliminary round games.
“The whole game was just embarrassing.
That reflects a bit of the whole season,” said defender Dominik Tiffels.
"As a player, you don't want to experience something like that."
A gradual decline preceded the first relegation from the elite league since promotion to what was then the Bundesliga in 1991.
For years, the notoriously clammy Rhinelanders have been among the weakest teams in the league.
Although the self-confident 25-year-old managing director Sergei Savelyev had big plans for the home club of the former NHL great Christian Ehrhoff, the KEV struggled around at the bottom of the table in the season in which the DEL determined a relegation again.
The penguins also find it unfair that the league stuck to it despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and a number of canceled games.
Savelyev recently announced that he would go before the DEL arbitration board in the event of relegation.
ara/dpa