German Ice Gladiators are your GCL 11 Division II Champions!

SportsGamers Community,

as always Division II Hockey was played in the DACH area, too. And it is fair to say that the Goliaths of the second-highest Division prevailed and were crowned Champions last week! The German Ice Gladiators battled until the very end to gain promotion to Division I for the next GCL 12! The squad around former DEG eSports Captain Daniel @DangerBrooklyn Göpfert finished as seed #2 in the regular season. A record of 15-0-1-2 brought them the Round 1 Matchup against the Flying Elbows from Cologne. The experienced squad around playoffs topscorer Alex @Fire_019 Eder (20GP, 30G+34A) steamrolled their opponent and paved their way to the semis with yet another sweep over RAIDERS HC. While the Gladiators conceded their first postseason loss in the round of the last four, their individual skillset proved to be too strong as they beat the legendary EV Duisburg in five games. In the other bracket, we have seen quite a few surprises. The Nürnberg Niddhoggr who started as seed #10 into the playoffs managed to course a big upset as they beat Huskies eSports as well as #1 seed Black Sharks in six games! This means they would gain promotion to Division I and face the Gladiators in the Championship series! As expected we have seen a thrilling final between two talented teams. And we were not let down by that series. Game 7 Hockey Heaven! After six tight matchups including two overtime games, the Gladiators found their rhythm right in time. With a 3-0 lead after the first period they gave the Niddhoggr no time and space for a spectacular comeback. A game 7 shutout for Thomas @Brndi Brndi as the ancient fighters scored 6 to crown themselves GCL 11 Division II Champs! On behalf of the whole Community SportsGamer congratulates the German Ice Gladiators on their Division II Championship but also the Nürnberg Niddhoggr to a fantastic underdog story in the postseason! Black Sharks Captain Sascha @Sascha_1998 Fülscher finished as the regular season's top scorer with 47 goals and 50 assists in 21 games played. We wish all participating teams good luck in the upcoming ECL'24 Spring season. In the following, we talked to the captains about their respective playoff runs 👇

 

German Ice Gladiators, Daniel @DangerBrooklyn Göpfert 🎙️

First of all congratulations to the Nürnberg Nidhoggr to a great regular season followed by an even more impressive playoff performance. We knew that the finals would be a tough and tight challenge especially due to our regular season matchup against Nürnberg. Their NZ trap really put us into big trouble back then. Thanks to Thomas @Brndi Brndi and his three shutouts, he paved the way to our title this time. We know exactly the worth of his performances and he gave us a chance to win every game at any time thanks to his work between the pipes. The last game was a big relief. After we managed to gain the lead everything felt way more easy. Everyone on the virtual ice became more confident and since Nürnberg had to pressure us we got more space, especially in the offensive zone. It definitely was the perfect finals series and hard-fought at any second. We are really looking forward to the upcoming GCL 12 Division I campaign!



Nürnberg Nidhoggr, Michi @R10_MichiL2 Prinke 🎙️

After a rather streaky regular season that we finished on rank 5 in our group, our goal for the playoffs was clear: we want to cause upsets and get as far as possible. The Sweep against Team Infernus, the 7-game drama against the Huskies, and especially the victory in the semifinals over seed #1 Black Sharks was absolutely mental. Nobody expected those performances from us after that kind of regular season. The final against the German Ice Gladiators was something we all looked forward to. Due to the promotion after going to the finals, our goal was to be as uncomfortable to play against as we can be. Never back down and always believe in yourselves at any point in time. After being down 1-2 we fought back and forced game 7. Unfortunately with the better end for our opponent. Nevertheless, we look back to a successful and amazing season and we are more than happy to try to prevail among the best in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland next season. Once again we congratulate the German Ice Gladiators on their Championship in Division II!


 

Congratulations to the German Ice Gladiators!

 

Kevin @Keuschemisch Berg & Max @maqareal Kattinger