Ater 60 minutes of tightly contested hockey we, along with the 6,000 plus fans who watched the game live in a sell-out crowd, are no closer to learning what the future holds for either of these teams in this tournament. Luckily enough for spectators, there is a second leg for the two Red Bull sides to stubbornly settle their dispute, which even a goalless score line can’t prevent this time round. Red Bull Munich will travel to Eisarena Salzburg under the same circumstances as before bar one; they will have to battle equally as hard but with a much smaller portion of their fans.

Red Bull Salzburg’s results following the First Leg haven’t served to improve their own position domestically but instead disrupt that of those above them. Only four points now separates the first placed Vienna Capitals from the third placed Graz 99ers in the Erste Bank Eishockey Liga after Salzburg earnt a morale boosting victory over the league leaders in a shootout. It was the third time this season that the fixture between the two sides concluded in this manner, with forward Ryan Duncan tipping the scales in their favour after scoring the fifth penalty. The Austrian side expanded on this victory to create some breathing space between themselves and HC Bolzano, who they lead by a point while also having the benefit of a game in hand. They achieved this with an emphatic 6-1 dismantling of Black Wings Linz which saw defenceman Daniel Jakubitzka score his first league goal for the side.

The German champions on the other hand find themselves frustratingly in the same position that they were in prior to the goalless draw against Salzburg. A 5-2 victory over 10th placed Krefeld Pinguine, including two goals by Frank Mauer, was topped by Deutsche Eishockey Liga leaders Adler Mannheim who beat Eisbären Berlin by six goals to two. Up next for Munich was Düsseldorf EG, who they’d previously lost 3-1 to back in November despite getting the better of them in eight of their last ten encounters. Another strong second period led to yet another 5-2 victory for the Red Bull side, who’re still nine points short of Mannheim in second place, where they were conveniently sat the same time last year before going on to become champions.