The Löwen Frankfurt maintained their good performances from the main round and successfully started the play-offs for the DEL2 championship.

In the quarter-final duel with EHC Freiburg, the Hessians won all four games (4:2, 4:1, 5:1, 8:4) in quick succession.

Coach Bo Subr's team deservedly made it into the semi-finals.

Now those responsible for the lions are watching the upcoming opponent.

From March 31, this will be called either Heilbronn, Kassel or Bad Nauheim.

The Heilbronner Falken still need a win against Dresden to move into the play-off semifinals against Frankfurt.

But if Dresden prevails, the winner of the Kassel vs. Bad Nauheim series, which is currently 2-2, will play against Frankfurt.

Players should switch off

On Thursday (7.30 p.m.) of the coming week, the first meeting in the semi-finals will take place in the ice rink.

As soon as the opponent has been determined, the Frankfurt team adapt their training to their style of play.

"Basically, we know the teams, but in the play-offs they sometimes change something tactically," says Franz-David Fritzmeier.

The sports director of the lions sees an advantage in the fact that the team now has a few days off while potential opponents are still playing in the series.

"So our players can get away from ice hockey and enjoy the sun for a day or two."

Lots of different scorers

The great strength of the lions this season is their versatility in attack.

You scored more than three goals in every game in the series against Freiburg;

the goal was almost always met by another player.

This is a comfortable situation for Subr, who can switch ranks intensively within the games because the quality hardly decreases.

The fourth offensive row of the lions also scores regularly.

A series in which other teams are forced to compete with junior players who are given less time on the ice.

Although the team of the lions has a high level of play, there is still room for improvement on the aspired path to the championship.

In the final 8:4 on Tuesday evening in Freiburg, the lions were already 5:1 ahead after the first period.

Freiburg reduced this deficit to 4:5 because the lions made serious mistakes in the build-up game.

"I would exclude this third from the evaluation, we got back into the game better afterwards," said Fritzmeier.

However, it is to be feared that such weak phases will be exploited more by the opponent in the coming semi-finals.

The supporters of the lions have had to do without a few familiar faces in the play-offs so far.

Canada's Bobby Raymond is yet to play a game for the Lions in the crucial part of the season.

Before that, however, he was on the ice in almost all of the season's games and scored 28 scoring points.

"He's ailing at the moment and not very fit," says Fritzmeier.

Ryon Moser was also missing in the series against Freiburg.

It is still unclear whether they will be able to play again in the semifinals.

The sporting director said of Kyle Sonnenburg, who was also absent on Tuesday evening in Freiburg: "I'm sure he'll be back in the semi-finals."

The difficult economic situation does not play a role in the minds of the players, assures Fritzmeier.

The lions are still looking for new sponsors.

Without them, sporting success would be of little use.

Because they would probably not be promoted to the German Ice Hockey League (DEL).