Titel’s top favorite EHC Red Bull Munich started the playoff semi-finals of the German Ice Hockey League with aplomb against the Grizzlys Wolfsburg. On Friday evening, coach Don Jackson’s team clinched the first of the four wins in the best-of-seven series needed to progress 5-2 (2-0, 2-2, 1-0). “You have to be there from the start. Otherwise you don’t stand a chance here,” said Grizzly striker Gerrit Fauser at MagentaSport.
The cornerstone for the deserved EHC success was a strong early phase in which the rested main round winner shot from all positions. The Wolfsburg, who only reached the semifinals on Wednesday with a win in the seventh quarterfinals in Straubing, found their way into the game late. “We wanted to come out like the fire department. We managed that quite well,” said national striker Maximilian Kastner, who scored a goal (28th minute). Trevor Parkes (2′), Emil Johansson (7′), Andreas Eder (29′) and Yasin Ehliz (54′) also scored.
For the Grizzlies, who are in a DEL semi-final for the third time in a row, Matthew Lorito (23rd) and officially Fauser (40th) were successful. In the second Wolfsburg goal, however, national goalkeeper Matthias Niederberger made an unfortunate mistake when he put the puck in the net himself. However, there are no official own goals in ice hockey. The series continues in Wolfsburg (1.15 p.m. / MagentaSport) on Sunday.
