Kevin Clark clenched his fist and signaled something to the fans in the standing curve, which should probably go in the right direction: Today is different than on so many previous Friday evenings, which ended with a defeat for the polar bears. After this goal in the power play against the Nuremberg Ice Tigers to make it 1-0, the supporters could also briefly hope that the current period of suffering will gradually end, because not only the said majority, but the entire initial phase seemed energetic. You could tell that the 4:3 victory in the penalty shoot-out on Sunday in Mannheim was good.
However, this good feeling didn’t last long because of the 2:3 defeat after a penalty shootout. It is characteristic of this season that any progress quickly falters. So also in this game. A double strike from Blake Parlett and Hayden Shaw (9th/10th) put the Polar Bears behind in front of the 10,730 in attendance, so that it indicated another tricky evening of work. The team does not regularly manage to turn a deficit either.
After the 4-2 home defeat against Iserlohn a week earlier, captain Frank Hördler had put forward the thesis that the trajectory of the puck was also related in some way to the situation in the table. So that certain actions succeed when you move in the more pleasant areas and many go wrong when you are far down – like the polar bears.
Rayan Bettahar makes DEL debut
A puck that smacks the post instead of slipping in next to the opposing keeper is one such example. There were a few scenes like that again against Nuremberg. Above all, there was a lack of one or the other clean execution.
In the solid DEL debut of just 18-year-old defender Rayan Bettahar, who was signed during the week and made his not too many changes sensibly, the polar bears came back into play with a lot of commitment in the second third. Marcel Noebels equalized in the power play (36th). The Berliners can currently rely on playing with one man more on the ice. With a success rate of 27.12 percent before this matchday, they are the fourth-best team in the league.
Of course, most of the game takes place with a full team, including the final third against the Nuremberg Ice Tigers. And here both teams delivered a hard-fought exchange of blows, which was also audible through the clicking of the racquets, which rattled together because every millimeter was at stake.
Berlin’s Giovanni Fiore had the best chance, but he couldn’t complete a solo run cleanly when he was outnumbered. And so, like on Sunday, not only an overtime was needed, but again a penalty shootout.
This time, however, there was no happy ending for the Berliners. While Matt White only scored once for the hosts, Eisbären keeper Juho Markkanen was beaten twice.
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Source: Tagesspiegel
Brayden White, a veteran sports writer at Global Happening, brings his wealth of knowledge and expertise to the sports section. With over a decade of experience, he is committed to delivering high-quality coverage of the latest games and events.
