Cologne sharks are shown their limits: The Eisbären Berlin are the system breakers in German ice hockey

The Cologne team has now become a real rival. Under coach Kari Jalonen, the team can develop its potential again. At least when it comes against teams that subordinate themselves to the Haie’s powerful system, which means that the quality of the squad comes into play.

This was evident in the main round when the Haie were able to play their game for long stretches and were able to collect 116 points in the end. But in the play-offs a different wind blows. They are currently feeling this in the semi-final duel with the Eisbären.

After the 4-2 win from Berlin’s perspective on Sunday evening, Jalonen spoke of “one of the best games I have seen this season”. He did praise his team for making the game exciting again at the end. But the first few minutes, “in which the polar bears were very strong,” as he said, actually lasted 50 minutes. Except for the last ten minutes, Cologne were clearly inferior.

Leo Pföderl, who scored his first two goals in these play-offs after a long goal drought, even spoke of the Eisbären’s best game of the season. “It couldn’t be nicer,” he said about his feelings these days.

It is now known that the Eisbären usually perform several levels above the level of the main round in the play-offs. The way they dominated the action in this third game and were the clear leaders in puck possession, duels won and shots on goal was surprising.

Polar bears cause opponents to stumble in the play-offs

Perhaps the Haie were still too preoccupied with the 5-1 win on Friday evening when they didn’t give the Berliners the slightest chance in the second third. And they lacked the ability to adapt to an opponent who was organized and had a precise plan on how to decisively break down the Cologne system. Janne Juvonen held up significantly better than in game one. However, despite strong saves, he had to surrender to the Berlin force.

The fact that the Eisbären appear so determined in the play-offs is of course due to the quality of the players and the club’s winning mentality, which is also transferred to new players like Markus Vikingstad and Andreas Eder. But the flexibility to be able to constantly reorient yourself should not be underestimated. It’s not necessarily about underplaying your own boot, but rather about making your opponents stumble.

Thanks to aggressive forechecking and the will to win every duel, the Eisbären slowed down the Sharks from the first change. And then there are the many individual experts who can put their stamp on a game like this – like in this case Leo Pföderl.

It can be assumed that the Polar Bears will come up with something special to annoy the Sharks in their second home game. The first third of the second duel in this series had already provided clues as to what it could look like. Even here, the Cologne team barely developed before the Berliners, for their part, abandoned their style and were punished for it.

In any case, it will be interesting to see whether the people of Cologne are capable of learning. Because otherwise the great euphoria surrounding the club threatens to be quickly thwarted by the Berlin system busters.