The Kölner Haie also won the fourth game of the quarter-final series against the Schwenninger Wild Wings and are in the DEL semi-finals.
The first in the preliminary round defeated Schwenningen on Tuesday evening in front of 18,600 spectators after 103 minutes and 37 seconds of play with 2:1 (0:0, 1:0, 0:1, 0:0, 0:0, 1:0) after extra time and won the “best of seven” series 4:0. In the third overtime, Jan Luca Sennhenn scored the celebrated winning goal for coach Kari Jalonen’s team – a good four hours after the first face-off in the Cologne Arena. “This is real hockey,” said Jalonen to “MagentaSport” after the game.
It is not yet clear who the Haie will play against in the semi-finals: As the first in the preliminary round, the Haie will meet the semi-finalist with the worst placement in the preliminary round. The semi-finals begin on April 8th and will be played in “best of seven” mode. Home law changes every game.
No goals in the opening third, but fists flying
In an intense first third, Schwenningen shot at goal more often (9:5), but it was rarely really dangerous on either side. After Cologne lost a target, Schwenningen had their first good chance through Jordan Szwarz (4th minute), whose shot landed in the catch of Haie keeper Janne Juvonen.
Cologne’s Kevin Niedenz suffered a lip injury.
Schwenningen’s Will Weber and Cologne’s Kevin Niedenz then clashed, which sparked a scuffle on the ice. The result: a five-minute penalty each for Niedenz and Weber as well as a ten-minute disciplinary penalty against Tyson Spink (5th) from the Wild Wings. The guests were briefly able to establish themselves in front of the Haie goal and fired several shots that didn’t cause any problems for Juvonen.
Cologne became really dangerous for the first time on a counterattack when a shot from Oliwer Kaski (10th) deflected by Brady Austin from the blue line flew just past the right of the goal. After a shot by Gregor MacLeod, Veli-Matti Vittasmäki (15th) got the rebound in the left face-off circle and finished, but Schwenningen’s goalkeeper Joacim Eriksson got to the puck at the last moment. Then there was another small fight, this time between Cologne’s Juhani Tyrväinen and Szwarz an der Gange – both conceded five minutes each. Half a minute before the end of the third, Cologne was in the majority after a two-minute penalty against Spink, Valtteri Kemiläinen (20th) failed with a slap shot at Eriksson.
Russell puts Sharks in the lead in the majority
At the beginning of the middle period, the Haie were initially unable to use their remaining power play to score a goal, but after a four-minute penalty against Kyle Platzer (23rd) for high sticks, the hosts immediately started the next power play – and took the lead. Louis-Marc Aubry stood behind the Schwenninger goal and passed into the slot to Patrick Russell (24th), who pushed the disc over the line to make it 1-0. For the top scorer in the main round it was the first goal in the current playoffs.
Another bench: Cologne keeper Janne Juvonen.
Cologne were still in the majority and pressed for the second goal; Eriksson, among other things, brilliantly parried a deflected shot from Dominik Bokk (25th). The Wild Wings survived being outnumbered without conceding another goal, but the Haie were now the better team: a slap shot from Kaski (28th) from the right side sailed just past the goal to the left, Eriksson (29th) thwarted Cologne’s next good opportunity in a direct duel with MacLeod (29th). Only in the last five minutes of the second third did Schwenningen get in front of the Haie goal more often, but the guests were still unable to overcome Juvonen.
First bad luck for Schwenningen at the post, then an equalizer
In the final period, the guests invested more in the offensive and Cologne was lucky twice: First, a shot from Schwenningen’s Eric Martinsson (44th) from a central position hit the right post, then Cologne’s Tyrväinen (47th) directed a slap shot from the Wild Wings onto the right post. In the minutes that followed, the guests hardly had any chance of scoring, Cologne kept getting a stick in the way and could rely on Juvonen.
A good two and a half minutes before the end of the third, Schwenningen took his keeper off the ice and tried another field player – and managed to equalize: Mirko Höfflin (59th) pulled away from the turn in the left face-off circle and hammered the puck into the top right corner. Cologne almost gave the right answer when Maximilian Kammerer (60th) failed twice on Eriksson’s saver.
Juvonen keeps Cologne in the game
In the first 20 minutes of overtime there were good opportunities on both sides, with Cologne having more chances and wasting a few high-caliber players. Tyrväinen (70th) was bleeding from the nose after a collision with ex-Cologne player Sebastian Uvira and had to leave the ice for a while, but returned later. After a time penalty against Spink (72nd), Cologne were unable to get into the final position when they had the majority. It went into the second extra time, in which Juvonen kept his team in the game with two outstanding saves against Uvira (83′) and Tim Gettinger (93′).
In the third overtime, Sennhenn (104th) finally redeemed the Haie: The Cologne defender simply tried a slap shot from the blue line and the target hit the top left corner.
Our sources:
- Game between Cologne and Schwenningen on March 31, 2026 on the streaming service “MagentaSport”
Broadcast: WDR.de, “Cologne wins epic duel against Schwenningen””, April 1st, 2026, 12:02 a.m
