BERLIN, Germany – After falling short to the Kölner Haie in the first round of last season’s playoffs, Berlin failed to survive beyond the first playoff round for the third consecutive year. It’s been a tough time for supporters in Berlin, especially after winning it all three consecutive times before the present painful drought.
They went into the post season with high expectations after finishing second, only beaten by the eventual champions, Red Bull München; a major improvement compared to previous years. They also were the best home team in the league and managed to win 18 of their 26 games on home ice.
In the second year under Uwe Krupp as head coach, the team finally adapted to the system of the former Stanley Cup champion and they had a nice mix of young talent and veteran players. Also the bad luck of frustrating injuries seemed to derail the effort.
But what was missing in the playoffs?
In each game of the first round, they managed to outshoot their opponent, winning only one game. Cologne was clever, they didn’t need much to capitalize and they had solid goaltending, provided by the Swedish goalie Gustav Wesslau.
In foresight of another tearing regular season and even more challenging playoffs, General Manager Peter John Lee was eager to add the missing pieces to the championship puzzle in the offseason.
In goal, he added young backup Maximilian Franzreb of the resigning Hamburg Freezers. Franzreb shouldn’t see many minutes and will eventually be a future corner stone in net, given that number one goalie, Petri Vehanen, turns 39 in October.
The D-corps is also bolstered with young talent, as Lee signed highly touted Maximilian Adam to his first professional contract. Adam will join Kai Wissmann and Jonas Müller, both entering their second pro hockey year. Wissmann and Müller attended the Prospects Camp of the Los Angeles Kings during summer for the second straight year, getting a taste of the big league.
The roster situation up front was Lee’s biggest concern last year. Berlin lacked leadership and secondary scoring in the playoffs, therefore the fans can be very delighted about the signings, Lee accomplished in this department. Just days after the season ended for Eisbären, Lee signed Nick Petersen of the Iserlohn Roosters. In signing Petersen, Berlin gets a guy you can ice in every situation, who sees the ice well and has magnificent hands. In Kyle Wilson, they added another strong character guy with lots of experience, playing at the NHL level and has also played in some of Europe’s top leagues, such as Switzerland and Russia.
Keyword secondary scoring, Lee signed the top scorer of the DEL 2 playoffs, who took the championship with the Kassel Huskies. His name is Jamie MacQueen and he will bolster the bottom six forwards with his ability to score; opposition coaches will have a hard time matching their bottom defense pair against him.
The last addition is Daniel Fischbuch from the Düsseldorfer EG, who is also proven in tight situations and will likely help Berlin with crucial goals.
Lee also signed young forwards Charlie Jahnke and Vincent Hessler to professional contracts. The two will likely play for FASS Berlin in the minors during the upcoming season, but be ready when needed.
Big roster subtractions were forwards TJ Mulock (Kölner Haie), Petr Pohl (ERC Ingolstadt), Mark Olver (unknown) and Mark Bell (unknown). None of them reached their expected contributions on the ice and in terms of Mark Bell, regularly struggled with injuries.
The DEL season starts on September 16th, when Berlin will open at home against the Straubing Tigers. Ahead of the season, fans can look forward to interesting pre-season games, during the round robin tournament of Champions Hockey League, where the Eisbären will take on Lulea from Sweden and SaiPa from Finland. On August 19th and 21st they host the Vikings at Mercedes-Benz Arena and on September 8th and 10th they will head to Skandinavia. In between these games, there will be a game against the Wolfsburg Grizzlies in Halle/Saale on neutral ice on September 2nd.
Also of note, Eisbären already played their first pre-season game in the old DDR-Oberliga clash against Weißwasser, who they defeated 8-1. Goals scored by DuPont (4./26.), Machacek (17./52), Fischbuch (24.), Wilson (39.), Rankel (40.) and MacQueen (40.).
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