BERLIN – Friday nights are for hockey, because the DEL is finally back and set for a new season full of action and excitement. On September 23, the Eisbären Berlin hosted the reigning champions from Munich for their second home game of the year.
Berlin captured a maximum of six points in the first two games of the season, beating the Straubing Tigers 5:2 on home ice and defeating Düsseldorf 4:3 on the road. Standout player in these games was newly acquired Nick Petersen, who had three goals and five points to earn the wins.
The visiting champions, Red Bull Munich, were tied for their first two outings of the season. They lost 1:3 to the Kölner Haie in Cologne, but won their second game in Wolfsburg against the Grizzlys with a score of 5:1.
Before the game, the crowd witnessed a very emotional retirement ceremony featuring two of the biggest legends ever to have played for the Eisbären Berlin. Hartmut Nickel and Bernd Karrenbauer officially retired after 50 and 52 years respectively, of service for the club.
On a special note, the Eisbären welcomed back a familiar face. After seven years of playing in the KHL, Deron Quint returned to Germany. The 39 year old American signed with Red Bull Munich in the summer. He won 3 championships with Berlin and is still listed as the leading goal scoring Defenseman in club history, scoring 74 goals in 232 DEL games.
The starting goaltenders were Petri Vehanen (Berlin) and Danny Aus den Birken (Munich).
Going into the first period, the Eisbären went full speed early on, demonstrating their confidence, earned in the first week. They set the tone for a speedy game during the first minutes of the period, no surprise, they found the back of the net first. Frank Hördler scored the first goal of the game in the second minute of the game. His wrist shot from the high slot slipped through Danny Aus den Birken for a sloppy goal. He should’ve made the save on this one.
Only three minutes later the Eisbären doubled their lead, scoring the second goal of the night after a great play by Nick Petersen, who circled around the Red Bull Defense, to set up Darin Olver from behind the net. Olver was diving into the crease to reach this one, but the puck found the blade of an opponent and tumbled across the goal line. Eisbären Defenseman Frank Hördler was also involved in that goal, accomplishing a two-point game.
The Eisbären were the better team through the first period, having a great effort in their forecheck. Munich couldn’t barely address an opening pass.
Unfortunately, they took some unnecessary penalties, what gave Munich the opportunity to adjust their game. The Eisbären were able to kill the first penalty after eight minutes, but when Captain André Rankel sat in the penalty box for tripping in the 13th minute, Jon Matsumoto cut the lead in half with a great deflection. Michael Wolf had the primary assist, finding Jon Matsumoto’s stick with a slick slap pass.
Both teams went into the first intermission with a close score of 2:1 in favor for the hosting Eisbären. Berlin was running over the reigning champs, who were obviously overwhelmed by the speed and creativity by the Eisbären to create offense. After two soft goals, Danny Aus den Birken found his game and was a solid back for Munich, denying all Eisbären chances after the second goal.
After the start of the second period, Munich kept improving while the Eisbären continuously lost track in their performance. It seemed that there was a lack of focus coming out of the locker room and this trend kept going until the end of the game.
As Munich got better and better, they created lots of high quality chances, but thanks to an outstanding Petri Vehanen, the Eisbären defended their lead trough out the first half of the period.
Vehanen gave them their confidence back, as they had a brilliant chance featuring Julian Talbot and Spencer Machachek, who double passed through the Munich zone, fooling everybody but Danny Aus den Birken, who was fantastic until the end of the game and denied this excellent chance.
Unfortunately, this was the best chance for Berlin during the second period and after twelve minutes into the second segment Munich tied it up. Vehanen made two fantastic saves on shots of Konrad Abeltshauser and Jason Jaffray, but had no chance on the second rebound, when Keith Aucoin saw an open net in front of him, to even it up.
Afterwards, the game slowed down a little, as both teams defended well and didn’t allow any good scoring chances. The second period ended with an even score of two goals a side. It seemed, that the special teams would decide this game.
The third period began like the second period has ended, with turnovers on both sides and a focus on defense.
Despite a majority of turnovers and the defensive style, the game was on a high level and very intense. Due to that, both teams took a bunch of penalties in the last period. The Eisbären tried to be dominant on their man advantages, but couldn’t really get a puck through. But when they did, Aus den Birken was there to deny the chances.
The Red Bulls had more punch, when they played on the Powerplay. Vehanen was always busy and did his best to keep the even score.
Nine minutes into the third period, when Jonas Müller sat in the penalty box for Hooking, Jerome Flaake scored the go ahead goal for the Red Bulls. Flaake was eventually wondering, why he found himself all alone in the slot, what gave him the opportunity, to load a lethal wrister. Petri Vehanen had no chance on this one and Munich finally got the lead.
In the dying minutes of the game, the Red Bulls displayed in a stunning fashion, why they are the reigning champions. They shut down the Eisbären offense and scored an empty netter in the last minute by Brooks Macek to hand them their first loss of the season.
It was a great night of hockey at the Mercedes-Benz-Arena in Berlin, where the hosting Eisbären came short to the champions from Munich. The special teams were once again decisive for the victory and the Red Bulls had it on point, scoring two goals in the man advantage and killing all penalties, when playing shorthanded.
The Eisbären will look to get back on track in their next game, visiting the Schwenninger Wild Wings, while the Red Bulls try to stay hot, hosting the Augsburg Panther at their home opener.
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