If there is a game in the German Ice Hockey League (DEL) and you can hear anything but music in the hall, then that can only be in Berlin these days. There, on Friday evening in the Mercedes-Benz Arena, 2000 people made a lot of noise in a game between the polar bears and RB Munich, which at least would have made something of the schedule in blissful times – i.e. before spring 2020. But at the moment neither table position nor nominal squad size say anything about the actual strength of the teams in the league.
The table first polar bears was weakened in terms of personnel, the former series champion came fresh from quarantine. And yet, what started lamely became lively and was only decided after extra time and then the Berliners lost after all. 2: 3 (1: 2, 1: 0, 0: 0/0: 1) was the end result from the hosts’ point of view.
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Some fans of the polar bears were perhaps still a little tired on Friday evening because they had watched Lukas Reichel’s debut in the National Hockey League (NHL) the night before. In any case, they are incredibly proud in Berlin that their now 19-year-old ex-striker has made it into the financially best-off ice hockey league in the world. Reichel played 16 minutes after overtime in the Chicago Blackhawks’ 3-2 win – and if he continues like this, ice hockey fans in Berlin and Germany will probably see him for years or not at all.
But of course there is now also the chance in Berlin to bring out a talent similar to Reichel’s in the coming years. At the moment, however, the polar bears are not so blessed, although there could be a lot of ice age for young players at the moment. On Friday, the polar bears performed with a team strength reminiscent of the early nineties in the top division. With three lines of attack and seven defenders, the Berliners had to go on the ice – needless to say that such a virus in constant use was partly to blame. The polar bears were missing three players because of this, and three were injured.
In the end, the polar bears were strong
The guests from Munich, on the other hand, were back at the start after an eleven-day Corona break, with a fairly full band and towering above them from the first minute. But that was of no use to them at first. With a lot of luck, the polar bears held on and even took a 1-0 lead thanks to a power play goal from Giovanni Fiore. Filip Varejcka, one of the younger talents from Munich, equalized to make it 1-1. A short time later it was 1: 2, Ben Smith scored for Bayern, who should have rocked the tough thing loosely.
The first third lasted 41 minutes, both goals of the guests were only given after the video evidence. Eisbären trainer Serge Aubin probably used the break for a short speech, because after that his small team acted differently, fought and finally showed body play. Matt White scored on the power play to make it 2-2; Munich had failed to decide the game early. But that was a good thing, because now there was real ice hockey to be seen. The Berliners, recently with rather bumpy performances, simply refused to appear tired. Munich’s goalkeeper, predecessor of Berlin’s Mathias Niederberger in the goal of the national team, has been kept busy. Despite this, no goal was scored before extra time.
The decisive goal came in extra time: after just 17 seconds, Ben Street scored to win for Munich. In the end, the polar bears were only rewarded with one point for their hard work.