Munich, Germany - What a feast: In a rematch of the 2000 DEL Finals, the Munich Barons routed the Kölner Haie (Cologne Sharks) 5-1. Forwards Dave Oliver and Andy Schneider and defenders Shane Peacock and Hans Lodin all had two-point-performances as Munich handed the “Sharks” their highest loss in the history of the series.

The final result was a little misleading, though. Although the Barons outshot Cologne 32-28 over three periods, the Haie dominated the early going and outshot Munich 16-8 in the first period.

But it was the Barons who drew first blood and took a 3-1 lead into the first intermission.

Barons jump out to 3-0 lead

On the powerplay, Dave Oliver was set up by Andy Schneider from behind the net and went topshelf to beat Haie netminder Chris Rogles for the 1-0 lead halfway through the first period. Youngster Peter Abstreiter doubled the lead only 56 seconds later when he took a pass from captain Simon Wheeldon, outskated a defender and beat Rogles low to the glove side.

Only two minutes after the first goal, Hans Lodin made it 3-0 on his first goal of the season. On the powerplay, Shane Peacock found fellow-defenseman Lodin in the slot and the Swede lifted the puck into the net.

Haie defender Mirko Lüdemann cut the lead to 3-1 when he took a turnover from Greg Johnston, who made his home debut for the Barons, and hammered the puck past Munich’s netminder Boris Rousson from the left slot.

Simpson “wasn’t content”

“Despite the two-goal lead, I wasn’t content with our game in the first twenty minutes,” Barons head coach Sean Simpson said. “We gave them too many scoring opportunities.”

Added Cologne’s Lance Nethery: „We started out pretty well. And, all of a sudden, we were trailing 3-0. Munich played well thereafter and deserved the win. They seized their opportunities cleverly.”

Final rally makes it 5-1

After a scoreless second period, the Barons put the game away in the final twenty minutes.

Seven minutes into the third, Schneider stole the puck from Lüdemann in the neutral zone and beat goalie Rogles with a nice deke to make it 4-1. A point blast by Shane Peacock capped the scoring at 5-1.

Munich Barons - Kölner Haie 5-1 (3-1, 0-0, 2-0)
Scoring: 1-0 (11:00) David Oliver (Andy Schneider, Mike Kennedy - 5:4), 2-0 (11:56) Peter Abstreiter (Simon Wheeldon, Johan Rosén), 3-0 (13:00) Hans Lodin (Shane Peacock, Derek Plante - 5:4), 3-1 (14:27) Mirko Lüdemann, 4-1 (46:56) Andy Schneider (Kent Fearns, David Oliver), 5-1 (54:16) Shane Peacock (Derek King, Hans Lodin).
Penalties: Munich 12, Köln 16.
Attendance: 4,521 (Olympia-Eisstadion, Munich).