One day after Halloween, the Cologne Sharks taught Red Bull Munich to be afraid! In the holiday guest game in Bavaria, the KEC won 2-1 on Friday (November 1, 2024) and thus moved past the 2023 champions.
The favorite away opponent, whom the KEC had duped several times in the recent past, achieved their second victory in the second duel of the season in the Bavarian capital on All Saints’ Day.
Kölner Haie are filming a holiday game in Munich
In the first third, the Haie made life difficult for Munich for a while, but then conceded the first goal of the day after 14 minutes. Markus Eisenschmid completed a quick counterattack after winning the puck in front of his own goal to take the lead.
Munich mascot Mike crashed the break analysis at Magenta Sport after the first third with a tongue-in-cheek provocation at fellow competitor Sharky. Standing behind the plexiglass pane, he held up a small sign to the camera on which – next to a painted dolphin – it was written to the Sharks mascot: “Where is my friend Sharky?”
Would that shake a few extra percent out of the sharks’ gills? In any case, the KEC won the middle section by a small margin. Parker Tuomie scored less than two minutes after the restart to make it 1-1, which lasted until the end of the third.
That’s why the Sharks had to tremble for longer, the strange goal after a rebound from the boards was examined intensively by the referees, but also survived the video check. There was great cheering from the more than 1,000 Haie fans who traveled with us, most of whom even made their way to Munich in a special train in the middle of the night.
In the final third, the cheers in the packed guest block got even louder when Justin Schütz completely turned the game around and made it 2-1. This ensured the Haie’s third win in a row after previously defeating Wolfsburg in their own arena.
“The win today was important again,” said winning goal scorer Schütz at Magenta Sport: “It was a great game for both teams, very fast ice hockey, it was really fun. We gave up a lot of leads at the start of the season, so we worked hard at it. I hope we continue like this.”
So it was an ice hockey holiday for all the Cologne residents who traveled along, who loudly belted out the Haie goal anthem “Kölsche Jung” by Brings in the final minutes and sang “Kölle Alaaf” after the final whistle. The KEC has temporarily moved up to third place and now wants to extend its successful series on Sunday (7.15 p.m.) with the NRW duel in Iserlohn.
