If Toni Söderholm had drawn a line from his place behind the EHC Red Bull Munich boards to the back on Sunday afternoon, he would have ended up directly at Don Jackson, who was there in one of the reporters’ booths under the roof of the Munich Olympic ice rink, wearing a white shirt followed the events with interest. In the summer, Söderholm took over from Jackson, the most successful coach in the history of the German Ice Hockey League (DEL), and described him before the start of the season as the “best guide in the world” and a “hand on my shoulder”.
This has been particularly good for Söderholm these days, because before the home derby on Sunday against the Augsburg Panthers, the EHC had suffered six defeats in a row – something that has happened under Jackson, who has been the “coach father” (quote from EHC manager Christian Winkler) since the summer who is employed by the Red Bull organization hardly ever occurred. Now Söderholm got from his team what he had recently missed and therefore longed for: goals and three points. Despite being 0-1 behind, Munich won 5-1.
Friday had gone badly for the two rivals. Augsburg lost the home derby against ERC Ingolstadt 1:4 and the Munich team remained in the disappointing ninth place in the table after the 1:3 in Schwenningen. After the defeat, Söderholm spoke of an “interesting” ice hockey game. Equally interesting from his point of view was the fact that his individually very well-manned team once again failed to score enough goals. Maximilian Daubner’s 1-0 (6th) was the only EHC goal; in the six defeats, the EHC only scored six goals. Even the return of DEL Player of the Year Yasin Ehliz, who had missed several games due to injury, could not remedy the offensive lull. “We have to find a way to be tougher, go to goal more and take more shots,” analyzed Kastner. That worked against Augsburg.
In the Black Forest, Munich couldn’t rely on their power play, which is statistically still the best in the league. A nearly two-minute five-on-three advantage game remained unused, which “we definitely have to make use of in this situation,” criticized Söderholm, who spoke of “small improvements” and a learning process that must continue. Everyone, he concludes, knows “what they can do better.”
The Augsburgers lose their captain after an overly hard check to the head
A lot got better on Sunday: EHC attacker Andreas Eder, better known for his filigree, made two checks in the first exchange, making it clear that the champion was vehemently looking for compensation. Munich’s start was also quite powerful, but a positional error in the EHC defense allowed Chris Collins to go it alone – and he completed it to make it 1-0 (7th). Chris DeSousa equalized in the starting third after a fine pass from Maximilian Kastner (16th).
And it was also DeSousa who completed a counterattack to make it 2-1 in the 24th minute, this time beautifully staged by Konrad Abeltshauser. Or Jonathon Blum, who made it 3-1 in the majority (29th). There was little or nothing offensive from the Augsburg team in the middle third – until Collins went solo again, but this time he was denied by national goalkeeper Mathias Niederberger (39′). “Our best game this season as a team,” said DeSousa after the middle third at Magentasport. Veit Oswald (53rd) and Austin Ortega (54th) underlined the fact that the Munich team could not miss this victory with their goals to make it 4:1 and 5:1. The frustration over the lack of goals was gone for one evening.
The Augsburg team also had to cope with the loss of their captain Dave Warsofsky on Friday, who was unable to continue playing after Ingolstadt’s Travis St. Denis hit his head and was also missing on Sunday in Munich. Augsburg coach Christof Kreutzer spoke of a “brutal foul” that briefly shocked his team. The defender was “not feeling well,” said his coach, and he didn’t see the check coming at all. The Panthers are much more worried about a possible head injury than the American’s broken nose; medical examinations should reveal more details. St. Denis was suspended for four games.
