Rot-Weiss Köln’s men completed a German hat trick as they came from behind to defeat Mannheimer HC 3-2 on Sunday.

In so doing, they qualified for the EHL FINAL8 next Easter while Mannheim and Harvestehuder THC are destined for the KO16 in the autumn as second and third place finishers.

On Saturday, Rot-Weiss came through their semi-final 3-2 against HTHC while Mannheim were too good for UHC in a 4-0 success. 

In the final, Christopher Rühr put Rot-Weiss in the eighth minute from Elian Mazkour’s assist. Mannheim roared back in the second quarter with Hugo von Montgelas’s sharp shot bouncing up off Vincent Vanasch where Justus Weigand rebounded.

And it was 2-1 when Teo Hinrichs got a clean shot away in the 22nd minute to give Mannheim the lead.

It remained that way into the 45th minute when a video review led to a stroke which Rühr stepped up to score. 

That made for a grandstand finish with the tie ultimately settled with 11 minutes via Mink van der Weerden from a corner and they held on for a 3-2 victory.

Earlier in the day, HTHC secured their EHL spot with a 3-2 victory over city rivals UHC.