On the last day of the Group stage, EV Zug hosted Red Bull Munich to decide who would advance from Group D. The game was also a matchup of veteran international goaltenders Danny Aus den Birken of Germany and Leonardo Genoni of Switzerland, which was on this night decisively won by the German.

The former CHL finalists won the game 6-1 despite an energetic crowd of nearly 4000 cheering for the opposite result.

It didn’t take long for Munich to strike, as Bastian Eckl flicked a shot from just inside the blueline that beat Genoni to the short side at 2:41, which the Swiss goalie was visibly upset with.

Zug levelled the score at 13:11 shortly after the expiration of a powerplay. They didn’t score on that, but they kept up the momentum and Jan Kovář perfectly converted a pass from Niklas Hansson, beating a distracted Aus den Birken. Munich challenged the play for goaltender interference, but the goal stood.

Munich regained the lead in the 25th minute when Frederik Tiffels carried the puck deep into the Zug zone and, from a sharp angle, picked the top corner. Then just past the game’s midpoint, Justin Schütz’s shot got caught in Genoni’s paraphernalia and fell into the net to give Munich a 3-1 lead. At that point, Zug coach Dan Tangnes put an end to the goalie battle, lifting the veteran Genoni in favour of youngster Luca Hollenstein.

However, Munich extended the lead early in the third period, as Zachary Redmond’s point shot was deftly deflected in front by Philip Gogulla past a screened Hollenstein.

Schütz added his second of the game and then Elias Lindner into an empty net made it a 6-1 final.