Thanks to a lightning start, Red Bull Munich has the quarter-finals in sight in the Champions Hockey League.
The German ice hockey champion won the first duel with the Swiss title holder Servette Geneva 3:2 (2:0, 0:0, 1:2), so coach Toni Söderholm’s team travels to the second leg of the round of 16 with a big chest next Wednesday at the Swiss.
Within 32 seconds, Nicolas Krämmer (5th) and Chris DeSousa (6th) gave the hosts the lead with a double strike. In the final third, in which Geneva shortened the score twice, Ben Smith (53′) scored to make it 3-1. With the sixth win from the last seven competitive games, Munich remains on the road to success.
The other German participants in the round of 16 had failed to work out a good starting position for the second leg the day before. While runner-up ERC Ingolstadt clearly lost in front of their home crowd against the Swedish champions Växjö Lakers (1:4), the struggling Adler Mannheim had to admit defeat to the Swiss club Rapperswil-Jona Lakers with the identical result.