THEWithout its six Olympic starters, EHC Red Bull Munich missed out on reaching the final of the Champions League. Despite a strong performance by goalkeeper Henrik Haukeland, coach Don Jackson’s team lost to Finnish ice hockey record champion Tappara Tampere 0:3 (0:1, 0:0, 0:2). Kristian Kuusela (5th minute, 54th) and Joona Luoto (52nd) scored on Tuesday evening for the hosts who started with the best team.
The Munich team kept the intense duel against the power technicians open for a long time. However, the individual class of the Finns denied the EHC the second final in the premier class after 2019. Tampere will now meet the Swedish runners-up from Rögle BK from Ängelholm in the final on March 1st.
“It’s disappointing to retire. Having been so close to the final, we wanted to win the title this year,” said defender Yannic Seidenberg. “Unfortunately it wasn’t enough today.”
14 days without match practice? The Finns really didn’t notice this after their corona quarantine. Coach Jussi Tapola’s team put on tremendous pressure in the first few minutes. In the first man down after a time penalty against Andrew O’Brien, Munich conceded the deficit: Kuusela was there after a post hit, goalie Haukeland had no chance.
Equalization just missed
The next mortgage for the EHC, who had to arrive with a thinned-out squad. Coach Jackson had to do without his German Olympic quintet Danny aus den Birken, Konrad Abeltshauser, Yasin Ehliz, Patrick Hager and Frederik Tiffels. In addition, Ben Street was called up to the Canadian squad in Beijing.
“It was certainly a close game. We definitely missed the boys,” Jackson said after the game about the Olympic absences. “I’m proud of what we’ve done. We had enough guys to win.” After the rapid opening phase of the Finns, Munich were more compact. At the end of the first third they even survived four minutes outnumbered because of a high stick against Trevor Parkes. Bayern still didn’t have a lot of possession.
The toiling Munich were better in the second third of the game. The Norwegian Haukeland, who was signed just a few weeks ago, held up well. Zach Redmond (38th) even had the equalizer on his bat. Playing the semi-finals, originally scheduled as a two-legged game on January 4th and 11th, had been an adventure. After corona outbreaks and repeated cancellations, the multi-purpose stadium Nokia Arena could finally get going.
National goalkeeper Haukeland was also under constant fire in the last third. Maximilian Kastner (47th) just missed the 1:1. On the other side, the Finns made their entry into the final perfect. Jackson took out the goalkeeper again – but it remained at 0:3.
