Patrick Hager recently had to do something that an EHC Red Bull Munich captain has rarely had to do in recent years: declare a veritable crisis in results. Munich had lost six games in a row. At the weekend, Hager contributed a lot to the champions of the German Ice Hockey League (DEL) starting a positive series again. The attacker scored the game-winning goal in the 5-1 away win against the Kölner Haie and added two assists in the 5-3 win in the home derby against the Nuremberg Ice Tigers on Sunday afternoon. With their third win in a row, the Munich team reduced the gap in the table to the first-place Eisbären Berlin to seven points.
There were no goals at all in the derby in the first 31 minutes, but even more after that. First up was Austin Ortega, who used a rebound from Ice Tigers goalkeeper Leon Hungerecker to make it 1-0 (31st). But Nuremberg’s response to the deficit was tough. After Dane Fox missed another great chance, Charlie Gerard equalized to make it 1-1 in the 38th minute and just 78 seconds later Cole Maier scored to make it 2-1 for the guests. The Ice Tigers double blow was quickly equalized by the Munich team: Hager shot from the blue line and Maximilian Kastner deflected to make it 2-2 (40th).
“We have found our game, it comes from hard work, loyalty to the system and discipline,” says EHC goalscorer Bittner
The Munich team also won in Cologne because long-time Nuremberg native Yasin Ehliz, who was also greeted with a whistle concert by the Ice Tigers supporters on Sunday, scored his 100th DEL goal. “It clicked in front of the goal,” said EHC defender Dominik Bittner after the win in Cologne. “I really hope we’ve got the hang of it now.”
Bittner’s goal from the blue line to make it 3-2 at the beginning of the final third (42nd) put Munich back in front against Nuremberg; it was his first league point in the Munich jersey. Ben Street made it 4-2 (45′), after which the Ice Tigers missed a five-minute advantage situation after Jonathon Blum received a game misconduct penalty for a check with the stick. In the end, Veit Oswald (55th) and Jake Ustorf (56th) also scored. “We have found our game, that comes through hard work, loyalty to the system and discipline,” was Bittner’s update on the current EHC situation on Sunday at Magentasport. The EHC can extend its positive series further on Tuesday, then in Iserlohn.
