Nico Krämmer had a plausible explanation for what had just happened. “We didn’t get the targets where we wanted them,” said the EHC Red Bull Munich striker on Monday afternoon, who didn’t go according to plan for the Munich team at all. The EHC lost the first playoff semi-final game 0:3 at the Fischtown Pinguins in Bremerhaven and thus suffered their first defeat in the current playoffs of the German Ice Hockey League (DEL).
EHC coach Toni Söderholm was able to use Ben Smith for the first time in this year’s playoffs in Bremerhaven; The experienced center forward missed the quarter-finals and the last three main round games due to injury. Nikolaus Heigl had to make way for him. The Munich team started very physically and wanted to set an example with hard checks. “It hurts the opponent every time they come into contact with the disc,” said EHC manager Christian Winkler, explaining the intensive approach. However, they also overdid it a little and Trevor Parkes had to go to the penalty box after just four seconds of the game. When Jonathon Blum, the second Munich player, had to go into the cooler in the fifth minute, the best outnumbered team in the playoffs struck: Jan Urbas, the DEL top scorer in the main round, scored with a 132-kilometer direct shot (6th). The start with the two quick penalty times was “semi-optimal,” said Winkler during the first third break at Magentasport.
It took a while for the Munich team to become dangerous offensively; Markus Eisenschmid (11th) and Krämmer (14th) failed with good opportunities against Kristers Gudlevskis, who was voted the best goalkeeper in the DEL main round. “Nobody has to worry about us yet,” said Winkler positively before the middle third. However, these quickly increased in the second 20 minutes. After just 118 seconds, Markus Vikingstad jumped the disc in front of his stick and beat EHC goalkeeper Mathias Niederberger for the second time.
Since they had won their quarter-finals confidently 4-0, both teams were able to regenerate for a full week. However, it was only clear on Easter Saturday, after Straubing’s win in game seven against Schwenningen, that there would be a semi-final duel between the defending champions (Munich) and the reigning main round winners (Bremerhaven). The specific preparation for the opponent was relatively short.
The Munich offensive, which ran hot in the quarter-finals against Wolfsburg, cut its teeth on the best defense of the main round in the first semi-final game. The North Germans guarded their goal robustly and compactly and also adapted better and better to the rigors of Munich. The story behind the 3-0 was emblematic of this: Skyler McKenzie remained stable after a check from Patrick Hager and was able to prepare Dominik Uher’s goal (28th). The first DEL semi-final game in the Bremerhaven club’s history became a special one for the North Germans on the ice.
“They showed that they don’t wobble and don’t show any nervousness,” goalkeeper Niederberger praised the Penguins before the semi-final – and that’s how they presented themselves on Easter Monday. Söderholm, who admitted that the Penguins had “mostly control” of the game, expects even more toughness and speed in game two on Wednesday in Munich – and gave his team a tip for game two straight after the first game: Man You have to make sure that you don’t press the accelerator and the brake at the same time. Now the accelerator pedal is needed more.