After a home win against the Straubing Tigers, the Kölner Haie remain the measure of all things in the German Ice Hockey League.
The 4:2 (2:0, 2:2, 0:0) win against fifth-placed Bavaria on Friday evening was the eighth win in a row and the 14th in the last 15 games. Because their pursuers dropped points, the Haie have a six-point lead at the top of the table after 35 match days. Straubing remains in fifth place, nine points behind Cologne.
In front of 18,600 spectators in Cologne, Maximilian Kammerer (2nd), Nate Schnarr (17th/38th), Frederik Storm (24th) scored the goals for once again extremely efficient sharks. Nick Halloran (30th) and Justin Scott (30th) made the game exciting for Straubing.
The Sharks were missing the injured Gregor MacLeod as well as the sick Janne Juvonen and Kevin Niedenz. In addition, Dominik Uher and Sten Fischer were not there. Felix Brückmann started in goal.
Straubing powerful, Haie efficient
After the guests had their first good chance through Danjo Leohnhardt (2nd), the Haie took the lead in direct return. Louis-Marc Aubry fed Maximilian Kammerer, who scored 1-0 for the Haie (2nd). Straubing was quickly able to digest the shock of being behind early on and pushed for the equalizer.
The Tigers shot on goal much more often than the home team, but they lacked the precision to overcome Felix Brückmann. Instead, the sharks struck again in the final phase of the first third. Schnarr made it 2-0 on a Cologne counterattack in the 17th minute, assisted by Tanner Kero. Seconds before the end, Parker Tuomie even had the chance to score the third goal during Cologne’s first power play of the game.
Injured Schnarr answers Tigers double whammy
The second third began with a shocking moment for the Sharks. Schnarr crashed into the barrier at high speed and injured his face. There was no penalty for Alex Green, who had brought Schnarr down with his stick (22′). Shortly after the Sharks had overcome a phase of being outnumbered, they struck coldly again. Storm completed a strong attack to make it 3-0 (24th).
The Tigers took advantage of a mistake by KEC goalie Brückmann, who was unable to hold on to a shot, to make it 1:3 in the 30th minute through Halloran, who skated the puck into the goal. Just 24 seconds later the disc was in the Cologne goal again. This time Scott scored the goal from close range (30th).
The guests were now on the verge of equalizing. But not with the Haie and not with Schnarr, who returned to the game with a plaster on his left eyebrow and made it 4-2 with a strong individual performance (38th).
No goals in the final third
However, Schnarr did not return to the ice in the final third and remained in the dressing room as a precautionary measure. The Haie controlled the action on the field and were initially closer to the fifth goal than Straubing was to the next goal.
A penalty for sticking against Cologne’s Veli-Matti Vittasmäki enabled the Tigers to have a power play after ten minutes, but they were not necessarily in front of the Cologne goal. After that, the game continued to be evenly matched. Three minutes before the end, Straubing took the goalkeeper off the ice. But this measure no longer had any influence on the result either.
Sunday at Bottom of the table
The Haie continue away on Sunday. At 4.30 p.m. the KEC will be guests at bottom team Dresden Eislöwen.
Broadcast: WDR.de“Kölner Haie win the start of the year against Straubing”, 02/01/202610:16 p.m
Our sources:
- Game Kölner Haie against Straubing Tigers on January 2nd, 20256
- DEL homepage
