Starting position
The first round of the Champions Hockey League playoffs marks the first game for both teams after the international break. This came at a good time for the Red Bulls, who had only managed one point from their last three win2day ICE Hockey League games and now had the opportunity to address their training shortcomings. The reigning Ice Hockey League champions qualified for the CHL round of 16 as the eleventh-place finisher in the regular season, with wins against Tychy, Bremerhaven, and Berlin, and losses against Ilves Tampere, KalPa Kuopio, and Odense.
ERC Ingolstadt enters the knockout stage as the strong sixth-place finisher in the regular season, having defeated Zug, Lausanne, Bolzano, and Odense along the way. They suffered defeats only against the Finnish top teams Ilves Tampere and KalPa Kuopio. Ingolstadt has also been performing exceptionally well recently in their domestic league, the PENNY DEL. The current fourth-place team won their last four games before the break, including a 10-3 victory against Cologne and an 8-0 win against Frankfurt.
Goal Scorers
ERC Ingolstadt relies heavily on their imports for scoring goals (in the DEL). Riley Barber (14 goals), Myles Powell (9), Kenny Agostino (7), and Alex Breton (6) are the four North Americans leading the team's scoring charts. The best Austrian player, Daniel Schmölz, is in fifth place with 6 goals.
For the Red Bulls, the scoring in the ICE Hockey League is evenly split between Austrians and Canadians. Travis St. Denis has scored six goals so far, followed by Michael Raffl, Benjamin Nissner, Connor Corcoran, and Lucas Thaler (all with 5 goals).
Saturn Arena Ingolstadt
The home of ERC Ingolstadt is the Saturn Arena, with a capacity of 4,591 spectators, including 2,495 standing places. The arena opened in October 2003.
Devante Stephens possibly on the verge of a comeback
Devante Stephens could return to the ice tomorrow after a nearly four-week injury layoff. The defenseman recently participated in team training again. Vadim Schreiner, who has already played several AHL games since his injury, will also travel to Ingolstadt. Ali Wukovits, Philipp Wimmer, and Lukas Schreier remain unavailable, as does Peter Hochkofler, whose comeback has unfortunately been delayed after the forward recently underwent upper body surgery. Head Coach Manny Viveiros will decide on the final lineup on game day.
