Hammer Eisbären took care of business in regulation, beating the EC Hannover Indians 3-1 on the strength of a two-goal opening period. The hosts never trailed, and the margin they built in the first twenty minutes was the game.
Hamm scored twice in the first to lead 2-0 after one. Hannover answered with the only goal of the middle period to make it 2-1, but the Indians couldn't find the equalizer, and the hosts restored the two-goal cushion in the third for the 3-1 final.
The decisive number is the period split: 2-0, 0-1, 1-0. Hamm won two of three periods and conceded only once across sixty minutes, which is the kind of defensive math that makes a one-goal lead hold up.