After each dispatching Swiss opponents in the Round of 16, Red Bull Munich and the Malmö Redhawks now face each other in the Quarter-Finals. Both teams have advanced to this stage for the first time, and in the case of Munich, they’re the first-ever German team to have made it this far in the Champions Hockey League.
This is a rematch from the Group Stage, where they met twice in October already tied on nine points to decide top spot in the group. On Gameday 5, Jakob Mayenschein broke a 2-2 tie with a buzzer-beating goal at the end of the third period in Munich, but the rematch in Malmö the following week wasn’t nearly as dramatic. Malmö won 6-1 thanks to a four-point effort from Martin Janolhs.
That put both teams even on 12 points, with Malmö getting top spot by winning the head-to-head aggregate. Now, thanks to their Round of 16 victories, they’ll meet twice more, with a spot in the Semi-Finals at stake. Once again, Munich will be the site of the first game.
Both teams began the Round of 16 at home, but the Redhawks took advantage of that with a 4-1 win over SC Bern. Starting with a three-goal lead in the Swiss capital, Oscar Alsenfelt made 27 saves for the shutout and Stefan Warg broke the scoreless tie with a late empty-net goal to secure advancement.
Munich, on the other hand, lost 3-2 to Zug at home, meaning they had a difficult task ahead of them in Switzerland but they came through. Justin Shugg scored a powerplay marker early in the second period to tie the aggregate score, Frank Mauer scored the winner with 5:08 to play and aus den Birken was brilliant all game long, making 37 saves for his second shutout of the CHL season.
While the Redhawks do have more offensive firepower, Munich play a solid team game, can often count on brilliant netminding, and as they showed in the Group Stage, can compete with a team of this calibre, making this an interesting match-up.