It took a while for EHC Red Bull Munich to get used to its new home venue, the SAP Garden in the Olympic Park: There were four home defeats in a row at the beginning of October – the intention to quickly turn the new arena into a fortress failed this phase. But things can happen quickly in professional ice hockey. On Tuesday evening the EHC celebrated its third home win in a row. Thanks to the 5:4 win against Adler Mannheim, the Munich team climbed to third place in the table in the German Ice Hockey League (DEL).
The EHC laid the foundation for victory in the middle of the starting third: defender Jakob Weber quickly brought the disc to the Adler goal, where Andreas Eder worked it over the goal line (13th). Just 67 seconds later, Adam Brooks made it 2-0 with a goal (14th). After Mannheim’s double strike to make it 2-2 within a minute, it only took 64 seconds in the final third before Maximilian Kastner put the EHC back in the lead (48th). Taro Hirose (54th) and Kastner (55th, empty goal) then seemed to make everything clear, but two late goals from Mannheim brought the tension back again.
After the 5-1 win against Ingolstadt on Sunday, EHC coach Max Kaltenhauser was particularly pleased with the defense. “We defended well again and with a lot of heart,” he said. At least that’s what the Munich team did against the Adler for a long time. And 20-year-old Simon Wolf showed a good performance in his second appearance in the EHC goal. On Friday the EHC will have the next opportunity to expand on the positive home trend. The Kölner Haie will then be guests, against whom there was a bitter 4:6 defeat three and a half weeks ago.
