The purely Bavarian final of the DEL continues at the top level. After winning the high-quality fourth game, Red Bull Munich can hardly take their fourth championship. The decision against Ingolstadt only falls in the last few seconds.
After a game of patience, Red Bull Munich can cool down the champagne for its fourth championship celebration. In the fourth playoff final of the German Ice Hockey League (DEL), the winner of the main round won 3-0 (0-0, 0-0, 3-0) at Bavarian rivals ERC Ingolstadt after two goalless thirds and went in the best-of -seven series with a 3:1 lead. On Sunday (2 p.m. / MagentaSport) in their own hall, the Munich team could already do everything with their fourth win – and help their record coach Don Jackson to win the ninth title in the DEL.
“We hardly made any mistakes. It was so important that we didn’t give the Ingolstadt team any space,” said Munich national goalkeeper Mathias Niederberger at MagentaSport: “We have to do the same thing again, it’s not over yet.” ERC captain Fabio Wagner was annoyed: “The only thing we can blame ourselves for is the exploitation of chances.”
For the guests, who had won the silver cup three times in a row from 2016 to 2018, Ben Smith (48th) scored the opening goal in front of 4815 spectators. Ryan McKiernan and Maximilian Kastner made everything clear in the final minute when the hosts’ goal was empty. The Ingolstadt team, who had sensationally won the title in ninth place in the main round in 2014, repeatedly failed due to Niederberger. Munich had won the first two games 2:1 and 7:1, the ERC countered with a 4:3.
The decision in the last 90 seconds
The number three was again in the Ingolstadt goal: 21-year-old Jonas Stettmer, who held on to Schanzer’s first win from the start in his first DEL game last Tuesday, got a lot of work straight away. Because Munich started well, put the hosts under pressure with very aggressive forechecking and created the first chances to score. Stettmer destroyed the best in the splits against Austin Ortega (15th).
“We’re getting into the game better today, but we have to do more with the disc,” said Munich striker Justin Schütz after the first third: “If we do good forechecks, all teams actually have problems.” But the Schanzer also came dangerously in front of Niederberger’s goal – whenever they came out of their own zone with clever build-up passes. The hosts’ greatest opportunity in the first 40 minutes was fended off by Niederberger with his stick hand against Wojciech Stachowiak (34′).
In the final section, previously the strength of the Ingolstadt team in the playoffs, this time the Munich team prevailed. Smith capitalized on a mistake by the hosts to make it 1-0. They took out the goalkeeper in the last 90 seconds, after a save by Niederberger the decision was made: Munich scored twice into the empty goal.