KREFELD, Germany – The race for the remaining playoff spots in Germany’s top league DEL ends this weekend. Seven teams are already qualified for the post-season and four teams are fighting for the three remaining spots. Right in the middle is Herberts Vasiljevs, the Latvian top scorer of the Krefeld Pinguine.
Before the quarterfinals being with the top teams from Nuremberg, Berlin or Cologne, the teams ranked 7-10 will have best-of-three, pre-playoff series.
The Hannover Scorpions (7th) are likely to be the top-ranked team in those games and are the only team fixed for the first playoff round. Below the Scorpions, four teams are not only playing for their final placement, but also to be qualified for the playoffs. The DEG Metro Stars (8th) from Dusseldorf and the Hamburg Freezers (9th), both have new arenas and the ambition of being a top club. The pair are the favorites to earn a playoff spot and get a last chance to atone for their unlucky season.
ERC Ingolstadt is also having a disappointing season. The Bavarians finished in the top-four the last two years, but lost both times in the quarterfinals. This year, they could even miss the playoffs. The Panthers are currently ranked 10th and hold the last spot to play for a playoff berth, but nipping at their heels are the Krefeld Pinguine, only one point behind with two games left – Ingolstadt has only one.
Even though the “Penguins” have a good chance to clinch 10th and be in the pre-playoffs, it won’t be easy with road games against the Iserlohn Roosters (5th) and Adler Mannheim (6th). After a few days off and strong preparation for the weekend, Krefeld will travel to Iserlohn on Friday afternoon.
“The game against Iserlohn is our most important one. We have been preparing well and we know their tendencies,” says Herberts Vasiljevs, the captain and top-scorer of Krefeld and striker of the Latvian national team.
As with other teams, Krefeld hopes to compensate for its mediocre regular season with a good playoff. “It’s tough for us because we are better than 10th place, we just had a bad start and I’m confident for next season,” the 31-year-old explains. “It looks like we would get Hanover or Hamburg in the pre-playoffs and the chances there are fifty-fifty.”
It’s only a few days until the playoffs start in the DEL but it’s a long way for Vasiljevs and his Penguins. “It all depends on the form of the day but we are prepared. Also our power play must get working,” the Latvian says.
Vasiljevs is not a stranger anymore in the German league and has even become a star. In the early ‘90s, the family moved from Latvia, where he played hockey as a kid, to Germany. His father Haralds was looking for a job as a hockey coach and is still coaching Krefeld’s juniors. The son Herberts debuted as a hockey professional in Germany in 1994 with Krefeld after three years on the junior team of Dortmund. Due to financial problems at Krefeld, the young Vasiljevs decided to try his luck on the other side of the Atlantic. After one junior year in the Ontario Hockey League, the Riga-born winger turned pro in North America. During seven years, he spent most of his time with the top farm teams in the AHL and IHL but also had 51 NHL games with the Florida Panthers, Atlanta Thrashers and Vancouver Canucks scoring eight goals and seven assists.
After one season each with Amur Khabarovsk, the Far-East team of the Russian Superliga, and the DEL club Nurnberg Ice Tigers, Vasiljevs returned to Krefeld and is playing his third straight season in the Velvet and Silk City.
“My career highlight was my first NHL goal,” Vasiljevs says and also mentioned the win of the last Joseph Turner Memorial Cup with the Orlando Solar Bears as champion of the IHL, which ceased to exist in 2001. However, at 30, the next honour came to the Latvian. With 30 goals, Vasiljevs was the best goal scorer of the DEL in 2006-2007 and also voted player of the year.
This season, he won’t repeat that feat but is still the top scorer of his team with 23 goals and 32 assists in 51 games. “To be player of the year is a huge honour. At 31, I’m in my best years but also the line-mates had to do a lot with my success,” Vasiljevs said.
Vasiljevs hopes to get a chance next week to extend his season before he travels to North America for the off-season as he is married to an American. This spring, his focus will be on Halifax, rather than his summer residence in the States as Vasiljevs will play his fifth consecutive World Championship with Latvia. “I’m really looking forward to this. It’s exciting to play there and it will be a different atmosphere than usual,” Vasiljevs says. “But it will also be difficult for us. We have Canada and the USA in our group and they have an advantage on the smaller ice rink.”
Recently promoted Slovenia will be the other opponent in the preliminary round. But before traveling to Halifax, there’s much work waiting for Vasiljevs and the other players involved in fight for the remaining playoff spots and the DEL trophy.
MARTIN MERK
