Crefelder HTC have given themselves a huge chance at continuing their title defence as they defeated regular season table-toppers Hamburger Polo Club 5-4 in the first of their best-of-three quarter final games.
“We are overjoyed and are now traveling to Hamburg with optimism,” said a deeply moved Philipp Jansen after his last CHTC home game, something he has in common with Niklas Wellen with both set to retire this summer.
Crefeld – who finished eighth in the regular season – trailed 2-1 at half-time but goals from Masi Pfandt, Niklas Wellen and Lucas Bachmann switched things around in the third quarter for a 4-2 lead. Polo fought back to make it 4-4 but Pfandt’s third of the day won it with six minutes to go.
They can now advance to the final four if they win either at the first attempt on Saturday or – if required – on Sunday in the third leg. Both games will be played at Polo.
Elsewhere, with their tenth consecutive victory, a 3-1 win against UHC Hamburg, Rot-Weiss Köln have put themselves in a very good position to advance to the final round.
Felix Glander took on the corner duties for a 1-0 half-time lead before Florian Sperling levelled for UHC. But late goals from Raphael Hartkopf and Tom Grambusch sealed the win.
They were the sole away winner from the quarter-final first legs and they now bring UHC back to Köln next week with a win on Saturday will see them through to the final four while the Hamburg side must win twice to turn things around.
Uhlenhorst Mülheim won a first leg shoot-out against Der Club an der Alster after normal time ended scoreless with Davey Harte making the key saves in a 5-3 success.
Harvestehuder THC were 2-1 victors over TSV Mannheim thanks to two goals from Andrew McConnell from corners.
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