One point separated the table Kiel and placed Flensburg second before the final round of the top league in Germany.
And it became a thrilling decision.
Kiel, with Oskar Sunnefeldt in the squad and knee-injured Niclas Ekberg in the stands, faced Rhein-Neckar Löwen in the final round and the event was even.
The former had a narrow lead of 13-12 at halftime.
At the same time, Jim Gottfridsson and Hampus convinced Wannes Flensburg at home and went out with the big lead 24-12 over Balingen-Weilstetten at the break.
30 exciting minutes awaited.
Continued evenly
It continued to hail goals between Rhein-Neckar Löwen and Kiel and in terms of results it was even.
In the parallel match, the guests took more for granted and prevented Flensburg's lead from escalating further.
When the final whistle sounded between Flensburg and Balingen-Weilstetten, the scoreboard showed 38-26.
Then there were five minutes left in Kiel's match - where it was 23-23.
They would also persevere and the final numbers were written to 25-25.
Kiel thus defends last year's gold and takes its 22nd league title.
For Flensburg, Hampus Wanne was a great show with his ten goals.
Jim Gottfridsson, on the other hand, scored three.