Former national player Alexander Barta suffered a rare defeat in his 1000th game in the German Ice Hockey League with Düsseldorfer EG. On Sunday, the 40-year-old lost 2-1 (1-1, 0-0, 0-1) to the main round winners EHC Red Bull Munich with the team in the league that was in the strongest form recently. "I was totally flashed. Everything really touched me," said the DEG captain of the German Press Agency.

Barta was extensively celebrated in front of 12,610 spectators. The striker, whose contract expires at the end of the season, was honored before the game by DEL Managing Director Gernot Tripcke, among others. Greetings were repeatedly played back via the video cube in the hall. "The whole day was wonderful. Now I'm going to have a beer with my family and close friends," said the striker. He has been playing for DEG for five years and his club has the best chance of qualifying directly for the playoff quarter-finals.

In the DEL he also played for the Eisbären Berlin, with whom he became German champion in 2005, the Hamburg Freezers and the ERC Ingolstadt. Barta is the tenth player to have played at least 1000 DEL games. National team captain Moritz Müller was only accepted into this group by the Kölner Haie on Friday. On Tuesday it was Barta's teammate Philip Gogulla's turn as the eleventh DEL professional.

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