Kölner Haie ran out 3-0 winners against Herning Blue Fox in the Champions Hockey League on Wednesday evening, extending their perfect start to the competition. The hosts moved to four wins from four games, while the visitors remain without a point after four defeats. And here's the thing — we had called for the home side, and the result vindicated that call.
Haie took control early and never looked back. The visitors had shown promise in their previous five matches, picking up four wins before this run, but they couldn't find any rhythm against a side that played with purpose. By then, the pattern was already set: a team that knew what it wanted and executed it.
The scoreboard tells the story, but the difference was in how the game unfolded. Blue Fox had beaten Sønderjyske 3-1 and Frederikshavn 7-0 in their opening fixtures, so they weren't without quality. Yet against a Kölner side that had beaten Augsburg 6-4 and Ingoelstadt 6-3 in recent weeks, they found themselves pinned back for long spells.
The standings now tell a clearer picture. Kölner Haie sit third with four victories and zero losses — a record that will have the bookmakers pricing another away victory. Blue Fox occupy 22nd place with the same number of games and the same number of points, though the gap between them and the rest of the group is widening.
What matters for the hosts is momentum. They had dropped points against Munich Red Bulls 2-4 and Eisbären Berlin 5-6 in their previous outings, so this clean sheet and dominant performance feels like a statement. To be fair, the confidence from those earlier results came through tonight.
The visitors will need to regroup quickly. Four defeats in a row, and they've yet to register a single point in the competition. The recent form against Danish opposition looked encouraging, but against a team that plays with structure, those wins mean little.
