A spectacle after a wild opening few minutes with four goals within 106 seconds brought EHC Red Bull Munich another step towards their fourth championship.
After the turbulent 7:1 (4:1, 2:0, 1:0) against ERC Ingolstadt in the derby final series of the German Ice Hockey League, coach Don Jackson’s team is now leading 2nd place in the best-of-seven series :0. Munich had already won 2-1 on Friday and now need two more successes for their first title since 2018.
“Ingolstadt has a great team. They will shake it off and attack again in two days”, warned Munich international Yasin Ehliz at MagentaSport before the next game on Tuesday (7.30 p.m. / MagentaSport). In 2014, when Ingolstadt won the only title so far, the ERC drew back 2-0 against the Kölner Haie after two games. This time, however, a goalkeeper problem threatens in the remaining games due to the injury of regular goalkeeper Michael Garteig and the suddenly slipping substitute Kevin Reich, who, according to coach Mark French, is now also injured.
“Upper wild” initial phase
As on Friday at the high-class start to the first Bavarian final series since the introduction of the playoffs in 1980/1981, the spectators were treated to a lot this time too. The second final started rapidly with four quick goals. “It was Oberwild. It went back and forth,” said Munich national defender Konrad Abeltshauser after the first third.
His team was already leading 4:1. Abeltshauser himself contributed the fourth goal (10th) and the preliminary work to Ben Smith’s equalizer to make it 1-1 after just 49 seconds. 14 seconds earlier, Ingolstadt had taken the lead through Maurice Edwards. But the self-confidence of the top start was quickly destroyed. That was also due to goalkeeper Reich, who didn’t have a good day this time and didn’t look good in at least two of the four goals conceded.
Ingolstadt’s Storm: “A tough day for us”
The representative of Garteig, who is still listed as injured, also conceded quick goals from Filip Varejcka (2nd) and Maximilian Kastner (3rd). Six minutes later, Abeltshauser’s slap shot was missed by Reich. Ingolstadt coach French reacted and took Reich off the ice, but later justified this with “health reasons”. It is still unclear whether Garteig or Reich can play again on Tuesday. For the Reich, which has been so strong so far in the playoffs, the only 21-year-old Jonas Stettmer made his third DEL appearance and fitted in with a saved penalty. Chris DeSousa failed.
Stettmer then conceded further goals from Austin Ortega (29′), Ehliz (37′) and Justin Schütz (53′). For the ERC, who are still waiting for their first win of the season against Munich, the game went early this time. “It’s a tough day for us. It’s just a matter of getting a good feeling for the next game,” said Ingolstadt striker Frederik Storm after the second period. This did not work.
