Hamburg seems for Ingolstadt is a good place.
Before the first playoff game in the semi-finals of the Hamburg Freezers against ERC Ingolstadt, everyone - at least the people from Hamburg - agreed: against the guests from Ingolstadt, who were placed 9th in the main round, there could only be a 4:0 series in the "best of seven". Everyone was accordingly euphoric. The fans rolled out a banner with the DEL Cup and the heading "Ours" and the atmosphere was very loud. It is the first semi-final that the Freezers have reached in the playoffs after 10 seasons.
However, the Ingolstadt team defended very cleverly and did not allow the Freezers to come into play. During a power play phase for the Freezers, the ERC was actually able to score the first goal when they were outnumbered. After that, not much happened. Due to some strange decisions by the referees, toughness came into play. In the end, the game was more like a wrestling match than an ice hockey game.
The game ended 1:3 against the Freezers. The final decision came in the last minute after the Freezers swapped the goalie for another field player.
As you would expect at a playoff semi-final, there were a lot of photographers in attendance. And of course television too. Space was therefore in short supply. I moved to the sides. You can take photos much less often and the windows only have a very limited photography area: the images quickly look blurry due to the refraction of the light from the windows.
Oh yes: dear Freezers fans, of course you are emotionally involved in the game, there is no slow motion and the referee was not having his best day either. His decision not to give the supposed 2:2 because Matthew Pettinger was offside was absolutely correct. I have a corresponding picture and can judge this situation. Either way: "Hang him on the black pig!" is an ugly racist saying and does not belong in any stadium. Thank you!
Hi Stefan, rarely seen such gripping ice hockey photos. The tension here is within reach. I also think images 1+3 are very successful. I like this mirror effect on the audience image. Hopefully the Freezers will make an effort now and shoot the series, because I'll be in HH at the end of the month and really want to see the finale.
Thank you!
I would also like to see the final 🙂
Hi Stefan,
As Roland already wrote, authentic photos, great!
Regarding your comment at the end of the report: The saying "Hang her, the black pig" may be ugly, but it is not racist, as it is simply referring to the color of the referee's shirt, which is usually black. This kind of ranting - taken from football - was around twenty years ago (and certainly longer), when the term "political correctness" was not even known 😉
Hello Ingo,
I know where the saying comes from. I know what that means. Apart from the fact that the referee in ice hockey doesn't wear black, the saying was racist twenty years ago. Times change. Time to think of something smarter.
Hi Stefan,
great pictures from an unfortunately not so successful game. Let's see how the series continues. I was amazed at how free seats were for a semi-final playoff game. Things always looked completely different in the playoffs a few years ago. But I haven't been to the Freezers in a while now. I think I discovered you in Q1. Have you stood in front of this tripod with an antenna? If so, what kind of device was it? It didn't look like a camera.
This was the receiving station for the referee's helmet camera. I uploaded a picture to Instagram http://instagram.com/p/mTCNZyymbR/
Is this all photographed through the windows?
I went to ice hockey for the first time on Sunday and had my problems 🙂 not easy to find a good position if you don't know the sport.
Yes, everything is photographed through the window. And yes, everything is hard the first time. Unfortunately, there is no really optimal angle for taking photos with the Freezers. Otherwise I would like to be in the extension of the red goal line. 😉