The German ice hockey champions Red Bull Munich and their new coach Toni Söderholm started the new DEL season with a victory on Thursday evening (September 14th, 2023).
In the opening match of the 2023/24 season, Munich won a lackluster 4:2 (2:0, 0:0, 2:2) in their own hall against a severely weakened Düsseldorfer EG.
In the opening game of the 30th DEL season, former national coach Toni Söderholm’s home team initially lost a 2-0 lead in the final third before two EHC strikers secured victory.
The Munich team dominated in the first third in front of 4,381 spectators in the Olympic ice rink. Ben Street (11th minute) after a fine combination and Andreas Eder (12th) scored within a minute – with the second goal conceded, DEG goalkeeper Henrik Haukeland, who was voted DEL goalie of the year last season, made a mistake.
The DEG surprisingly equalizes – but still loses
With the weakened Düsseldorf team, ex-national player and ex-EHC professional Philip Gogulla initially failed with two great chances to score. In the final third, Luis Üffling (47th) and Victor Svensson (50th) surprisingly equalized. There was still a happy ending for the hosts: Trevor Parkes scored with a goal (55′), and Maximilian Kastner scored the final point into an empty goal (60′).
Before the game started, the Munich team had pulled their championship banner under the stadium roof in a small ceremony – the flags for the DEL titles 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2023 are now hanging there. The Red Bulls started their last season in the venerable Olympic ice rink before A new multifunctional arena is to be moved into for the 2024/25 season.
Söderholm’s successful premiere
For coach Söderholm it was the first league game as coach of the EHC – and it was a successful premiere. Söderholm, national coach from 2019 to 2022 and then unsuccessful head coach at SC Bern, inherited the successful coach Don Jackson for the new season in Munich.
After his fourth championship title with Red Bull, Jackson, who had been in office since 2014, ended his career.