The Cologne Haie won the fourth duel in the semi-final series against ERC Ingolstadt and can move into the final with another victory.
Cologne won fourth comparison on Wednesday evening before 18,600 spectators with 2: 1 (1: 0, 0: 0, 1: 1) and leads in the “Best of Seven” series with 3: 1. Four victories are necessary to move into the final, where the Eisbären Berlin are waiting. The fifth semi-final duel will take place on Friday (7 p.m.) in Ingolstadt.
Cologne’s goalkeeper Julius Hudacek again played a large part in the victory, who defended 44 goal shots. “Our keeper has made an outstanding game again, it is a very big support,” said Cologne’s scorer Maximilian Kammerer after the game at “Magentasport”. “In the first game against Ingolstadt (0: 7/note of the editor), everything that could go wrong. But now we let little and are very effective at the front. We don’t have to change much now. And if you go into such duels with fun, something positive comes around.”
Ingolstadt in attack mode right from the start
After less than a minute, Ingolstadt already had the first big chance of Leon Hüttl (1st), who failed after a pass by Daniel Pietta on the shiny-reacting Haie keeper Hudacek. The ERC continued to pressure, but then ran into a counterattack. Frederik Storm (5th) ran towards the Ingolstadt goal and pulled the loser in the duel with ERC keeper Christian Heljanko.
Afterwards Cologne was better in the game. After punishment against Ingolstadt’s Myles Powell (9th) and Mathew Bodie (11th), Cologne was not able to convert a double overnight outnumber into a hit, but took the lead shortly afterwards. The sharks combined in front of the ERC gate and served in the high slot Kammerer (15th), which put the disc into the right corner.
ERC presses on the equalization – and does not meet
Cologne started well in the second section, but the third was clearly ingolstadt. Mathew Bodie (23rd), who appeared completely freely in front of the Cologne housing after a pass from Riley Sheen, had the first big chance. Three minutes later, a shot deflected by Hüttl (26th) clapped to the post.
Occasionally the sharks came to relief attacks. The ERC played most of the time, but both Kenny Agostino (28th) and Hüttl (29th) did not pass Hudacek. When Hudacek bounced the puck forward when a shot was defended, Moritz Müller (33.) saved Wojciech Stachowiak with a long racket in the greatest need. Also outnumbered, the Cologne team kept their box clean in the final phase. The balance sheet after the second third: 31:18 shots for Ingolstadt. A little later, Hudacek broke the 100 minutes without conceding a goal.
Cologne is expanding a tour – Ingolstadt shortens again
In the final section, Ingolstadt continued to try everything. Cologne offered counterattacks with increasing playing time: Justin Schütz moved from left and laid across Alexandre Grenier (49.), but his shot on the right corner landed in the fishing hand of Ingolstadt goalkeeper Christian Heljanko.
A minute later the sharks hit. After a missed chance of ERC, Hudacek initiated the counterattack. Kammerer grabbed the pane and matched Gregor Macleod diagonally (50th), who sank the puck from the left Bullykreis into the long corner.
Three minutes later, Ingolstadt scored the connection goal with an art shot: from the very pointed angle of Hüttl (53.) from right wing and pulled the shot over the shoulder of Hudacek in the long angle. Ingolstadt threw everything forward in the last few minutes, but the sharks brought the victory over time.
Our sources:
- Game 4 between Cologne and Ingolstadt on April 9, 2025
- DEL website
