DEL: Efficient Cologne don’t give bottom team Dresden a chance

As of: January 4, 2026 7:49 p.m

The Kölner Haie remain the DEL team of the moment. With bottom team Dresdner Eislöwen, the league leaders used their chances effectively.

Cologne beat bottom-placed Dresden 8-1 (4-0, 2-1, 2-0) on Sunday and celebrated their ninth win in a row. With 80 points, the Haie are now eight points ahead of their first pursuer Adler Mannheim, who won the top game at EHC Munich 4-2.

For newly promoted Dresden, who started the new year with a surprising win against second-placed Mannheim and presented a new sports director with ex-national player Jens Baxmann on Saturday, it was a setback in the fight to stay in the league. The gap to the penultimate place is 13 points.

Early Cologne double hit

Due to a late special train of Cologne fans, the game started 15 minutes later. Among other things, the Haie had to do without their top goalkeeper Janne Juvonen, who was ill, and started with goalie Felix Brückmann.

After just one minute, Dresden’s Tomas Andres received a time penalty and Cologne, the second best power play team in the league with a rate of almost 30 percent, took advantage of their first advantage: Oliwer Kaski (3rd minute) scored with a shot from the blue line into the top left corner to make it 1-0. Cologne continued to apply pressure and quickly scored the second goal. Dominik Bokk (6th) came unchallenged down the right side with a lot of speed and sank the disc into the top left corner from a very acute angle.

Sharks can do almost anything

Dresden continued to have problems with Cologne’s aggressive forechecking, but then had its first good opportunity through Trevor Parkes (10th), who was positioned centrally in front of the goal, who shot clearly over the goal. Then Cologne was back on the trigger and went into the next power play after a penalty against Drew LeBlanc. The Haie let the score play with great confidence until Maximilian Kammerer (11th) scored with a one-timer from the high slot and increased the score to 3-0.

Cologne simply carried on – and extended their lead when they were outnumbered. Juhani Tyrväinen (19th) received the puck from Ryan MacInnis in the slot and pushed it past Dresden goalkeeper Jussi Olkinuora on the right – 4-0.

Second Cologne shorthander in the middle third

In the second third, the Haie initially missed a good counterattack opportunity, but in the next they struck again when they were outnumbered. After a pass from Tyrväinen, MacInnis (25th), who was running along, sensitively took the target in the middle and pushed it into the top left corner.

Shortly afterwards, Cologne was inattentive, which Dresden took advantage of to score their first goal: LeBlanc (28th) had too much space in front of the Haie goal and hammered the puck unstoppably under the crossbar. The Haie’s answer came six minutes later when Bokk (34th) scored his second goal from the left face-off circle and increased the score to 6-1. In terms of statistics, the two teams were on equal terms in many areas, but Cologne was clearly superior in terms of play on the ice.

Russell carries himself into the Top scorers list a

In the final third, Cologne’s birthday boy Patrick Russell (44th), who turned 33 on Sunday, increased the result after a counterattack. The Dane brought the disc towards the goal when Dresden’s Austin Ortega fell, cleared his goalie and the puck slipped over the line. After checking the video material, the hit was given.

And things got even worse for Dresden. After a blocked shot by Parker Tuomie, Tanner Kero (48th) scored and made it 8-1.

Tuesday in Nuremberg

After the game in Dresden, the Haie now have four more away games on the program. On Tuesday (January 6th/4:30 p.m.) does Cologne Station with the Nuremberg Ice Tigers. Games follow in Ingolstadt, Augsburg and Bremerhaven.

Dresden, on the other hand, has two more home games ahead of it: on Tuesday (January 6th / 7.30 p.m.) against the Fischtown Pinguins, on Saturday (January 10th / 5 p.m.) against the Eisbären Berlin.

Our sources:

Broadcast: WDR.de“Cologne sharks dominant against Dresden Ice Lions”, 01/04/20267:44 p.m