DEL preview: Red Bull München to kick off the year at the Kölner Haie

Thursday, 02. January 2025 | DEL preview: Red Bull München to kick off the year at the Kölner Haie

Chasing duel on the Rhein: Red Bulls open the new year in Cologne// DEL - PREVIEWEHC Red Bull München will kick off the 2025 calendar year with an away game against the Kölner Haie on Friday at 7.30 pm (live on MagentaSport, on our blog & Sportdeutschland.TV). Both teams are direct neighbours in the table.

On the Rhein, our boys want to take the emotional final spurt from the last game against Wolfsburg with them. After trailing for a long time and having plenty of chances to score, Chris DeSousa and Markus Eisenschmid turned the game against the Grizzlies at the SAP Garden into a 3:2 victory after all.

"We showed team spirit and never stopped playing," emphasized Eisenschmid, who scored the winning goal. "The fact that we were able to turn the game around and start the new year like this is of course outstanding. I think that was a milestone," said the Munich striker. With his goal 52 seconds before the end, our attacker also scored a personal highlight, as this was his 100th goal in the PENNY DEL.

Highlights: EHC Red Bull München vs. Grizzlys Wolfsburg (30.12.2024)

// DEL - HIGHLIGHTS

Red Bulls want to keep Cologne at bay

Eisenschmid has also been successful against the Haie this season. The 29-year-old has scored a goal in each of the two duels against the Rhinelanders so far, but Cologne took the points from the Bavarian capital both times (4:6 and 1:2).

Now coach Max Kaltenhauser's team must turn the tables and pick up important away points against one of their closest rivals. The Red Bulls are fifth in the table with 55 points and one game in hand, three points ahead of Cologne (sixth, 52 points).

Moritz Müller now among the all-time top 3

Our opponents also ended 2024 on a positive note with two wins in a row. The Haie first cracked the Adler Mannheim fortress with a 4:1 away win, and the cathedral city team followed up at home with a narrow 3:2 triumph after a penalty shootout against Löwen Frankfurt. Captain and veteran Moritz Müller, who scored the equalizer in between, played his 1,093rd DEL game against the Hessians and climbed to third place on the all-time list of players with the most appearances in the German ice hockey top flight.

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The second home game against Köln in pictures

Storm quartet in good form, Hudacek the great support

Alexandre Grenier, Frederik Storm, Maximilian Kammerer and top scorer Louis-Marc Aubry (27 points) have also come back into focus recently, with the quartet scoring regularly. The fifth most dangerous Hai at the moment is Justin Schütz, a well-known player who has scored eleven goals this season.

Head coach Kari Jalonen can rely on Julius Hudacek between the posts; the Slovakian has been one of the league's best goalies statistically since moving to the Rhein at the start of October 2024.

Munich's proud away record

However, Cologne's Lanxess Arena continues to be a really good place for our team. Of the past 13 meetings in the cathedral city, the Red Bulls have left the ice victorious twelve times. The last time we were guests of the Haie was almost exactly a year ago, when Munich won 6:3. Two-time goalscorer? Markus Eisenschmid.

DEL record against Cologne

Wins: 41 Losses: 22 Winning percentage: 65 Prozent Goal difference: 210:150 Last game: RBM vs. KEC 1:2 Last ten games: N S S N N S S S N N Last ten away games: S S S S S S N S S S