Of all places, leaders ERC Ingolstadt slipped out of the German Ice Hockey League (DEL) at the bottom of the table. The team of the moment, which had previously won 18 of 20 games, surprisingly lost to the Dresdner Eislöwen 2:3 (1:3, 1:0, 0:0).
Nevertheless, the 2014 champions remained top of the table because their pursuers Adler Mannheim had already lost 2:5 (0:2, 0:1, 2:2) at Grizzlys Wolfsburg and suffered their second defeat in the last three games. Red Bull Munich continued its high with the 6:3 (1:0, 0:2, 5:1) at the Fischtown Pinguins – after their seventh win in a row, Bayern moved within one point of Mannheim.
Red Bull Munich continued its high with a 6:3 (1:0, 0:2, 5:1) win over the Fischtown Pinguins – after their seventh win in a row, Bayern moved within one point of Mannheim and Cologne.
In the table cellar, Dresden is still nine points behind the Frankfurt Lions after their first home three of the season, who lost 4:6 (0:2, 3:2, 1:2) at the Iserlohn Roosters and slipped to second-to-last place.
Ingolstadt’s ex-national player Daniel Pietta played his 1092nd DEL game, climbing to fifth place in the record list. “That’s a nice number – with a lot of other good players up front. That makes you proud,” said the 39-year-old, who could still reach third place over the course of the season. “I would like to get a few more games in.”
The league leaders took the lead early in Dresden through Riley Sheen (3rd). But the bottom team turned the game around within 85 seconds with a double strike from Austin Ortega in the lead (13th/14th). CJ Suess made it 3-1 in the first third (19th). Sam Ruopp only managed to score the next goal (35th).
In Wolfsburg, Mannheim particularly despaired of national goalkeeper Dustin Strahlmeier, who fended off 34 of 36 shots. Only ten minutes before the end did Kris Bennett overcome the Grizzlys goalie for the first time, but Julian Chrobot made it 4-1 for Wolfsburg just 88 seconds later (52nd). The match winner for Munich was captain Patrick Hager with two goals.