The away series of the Eisbären Berlin breaks

Before the polar bears game in Wolfsburg, an interesting rumor about the Berlin club from the German Ice Hockey League (DEL) made the rounds. Allegedly, goalkeeper Mathias Niederberger is about to switch to the KHL, the league under Russian direction. Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg has offered a lot of money, it said. After all, after 22 games and a whopping 70 goals conceded, the club is looking for a new goalkeeper. However, the polar bears themselves were amazed. “It’s good that we know that now,” said sports director Stéphane Richer and laughed. There is definitely nothing to it, said managing director Thomas Bothstede.

That would also be a blow for the polar bears, who put Tobias Ancicka in their goal instead of Niederberger on Sunday in Wolfsburg. So that would have fit the rumor, but given the tight schedule, a change was announced for good reason. And Ancicka did his job properly, but the Berliners lost 4: 5 (1: 1, 2: 2, 1: 1/0: 1) after extra time with the Grizzlys and thus their unbelievable away series broke after seven successes in a row on the opposing side Ice cream.

In the Wolfsburg game there was definitely what it said. The top game on Sunday in the league was a very fast-paced affair with the first face-off, although at first it seemed as if the Berliners were always a bit smarter. The Eisbären advanced in the first third with a goal from Jonas Müller, but when they were outnumbered, they then conceded the 1-1 equalizer from Trevor Mingoia.

The Wolfsburg drew their strong power play

After Leo Pföderl and the fantastic captain Frank Hördler had scored for the Berlin team in the second round, nothing stood in the way of a Berlin success – until Yannick Veilleux brought Wolfsburg back into play. After the Canadian had received a double two-minute penalty for high sticks, the Wolfsburg-based team returned to their strong power play – and scored twice. Mingoia scored the 2: 3 and Spencer Machacek, once active in the polar bears, equalized. To make matters worse for the Berliners was that Blaine Byron – apparently injured – went into the dressing room in the second third. For him, Zach Boychuk moved next to Pföderl and Marcel Noebels in the most dangerous storm line of polar bears. “I don’t think it’s bad,” said coach Serge Aubin after the game.

Byron’s ideas and skills were noticeably lacking in the Berlin game afterwards, but at least the polar bears could rely on their power play in the still very strong game. Kevin Clark hit the inside post with a solid shot and the puck flew into the Wolfsburg goal. The Lower Saxony struck back, however, Jordan Murray scored to 4: 4 – again in the majority game, Ancicka did not look good with this goal. So it went into extra time and the Berliners had the best chances, Matt White even hit the post, but in return Darren Archibald scored the winning goal for Wolfsburg.

For the grizzlies, the success against the Berlin team was a pleasant feeling. In the final series of the previous season, when the Berlin team won the title, they still had a great chance of winning the championship on their own ice. Perhaps it helped them that their fans among the 2950 spectators in the ice arena actually had acoustic sovereignty over the many polar bear supporters who traveled with them, but who applauded their team despite the narrow defeat. Because there was little to complain about in the performance of the Berliners – apart from the outnumbered game, perhaps.