EHC Red Bull Munich has successfully started its hunt for the fourth title in the German Ice Hockey League (DEL) and won the first playoff final.
Coach Don Jackson’s team beat challenger ERC Ingolstadt 2-1 (1-0, 1-0, 0-1) in a duel between the two best in the main round on Friday. At the start of the first Bavarian final in the history of the DEL, Trevor Parkes (2nd) and Frederik Tiffels (28th) scored for the Munich team, who are chasing the championship title for the sixth time in eight years. Wojciech Stachowiak (43rd) only scored the goal for Ingolstadt.
“We wanted to score an early goal and we did it”said the satisfied national player Maximilian Kastner at Magenta – and the defeated opponent from Ingolstadt could also draw something positive from the defeat. “We played a brutally good game”emphasized Leon Hüttl and already looked ahead to the next encounter: “We’re playing at home, with our own fans behind us, that’s where we get our first win.”
Four wins lead to the championship
The two teams will meet again in Ingolstadt on Sunday (2.15 p.m./live ticker on sportschau.de) – four wins are necessary in total to be crowned champions. EHC captain Patrick Hager had warned despite the very strong main round of his team with 122 points and the associated role as favourite.
Ingolstadt is “One of the fastest teams in the league, we’ll be facing a lot of speed, we shouldn’t be surprised by this speed”, said Hager, who was part of the Ingolstadt team in 2014, which sensationally stormed to the championship after being ninth in the preliminary round. In addition, the team of “Coach of the Year” Mark French had a little more time to regenerate after the 4-2 win against Adler Mannheim.
Fast Munich tour
Nevertheless, the hosts from Munich, who only secured their final ticket on Wednesday after seven games against the Wolfsburg Grizzlies, got off to a better start in the Olympic ice rink. After Ingolstadt lost the puck in their own third, Parkes scored the lead after a good 90 seconds.
The “Schanzer Panthers” then struggled despite being outnumbered three times, but came out better after the first third break. Munich, meanwhile, impressed with brutal efficiency and extended their lead with the first finish of the second period. At the beginning of the last third, Ingolstadt was also rewarded for a strong performance in the person of Stachowiak. The following storm runs were unsuccessful.