The long winning streak is over, and yet ERC Ingolstadt is in the quarter-finals of the Champions Hockey League (CHL) for the first time.
The club from the German Ice Hockey League (DEL) lost the second leg of the round of 16 against the Austrian long-time champions Red Bull Salzburg 3:4 (1:2, 0:1, 2:1), but advanced thanks to their clear success in the first duel the previous week (6:2). The Schanzer have never before been among the top eight teams in the competition.
Ingolstadt, which had recently celebrated seven competitive game victories in a row, was without regular staff in the ice arena and was twice behind by two goals (1:3 and 2:4). When Salzburg removed the goalkeeper in favor of another field player and Daniel Schmölz reduced the score to 3:4 (56′), progress was practically perfect. The ERC will be in the quarter-finals on the 2nd/3rd. and December 16th against the four-time CHL champion Frölunda HC from Gothenburg/Sweden.
Out for the Fischtown Penguins
The end came for the Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven. The fourth-placed team in the DEL had to admit defeat 2:5 (0:2, 2:1, 0:2) at Finnish top club Ilves Tampere in the second leg and was eliminated; the North Germans had already lost their first duel at home the previous week (2:3).
In the previous ten CHL editions, only Red Bull Munich from the DEL reached the final once. However, in 2019, Bayern lost to Frölunda.