DEL final 2026: Record champions Berlin do everything right

IA goldfish has been making its rounds in the Mannheim ice hockey cosmos for a few days now. Metaphorically, of course. The playoffs require “the memory of a goldfish,” emphasized Tom Kühnhackl at the start of the final series in the German Ice Hockey League (DEL). “So many things happen in the playoffs – good things, bad things,” explained the experienced Adler Mannheim striker. You shouldn’t get bogged down in this, things keep moving quickly.

The eagles’ goldfish memory is being particularly taxed these days because of – from their perspective – bad things. After clearly losing the first two championship finals against the Eisbären Berlin (3:7 and 1:5), they were under pressure in their own hall on Tuesday evening. An early 1-0 gave Mannheim hope, but in the end there was another clear 1-5 defeat. Already on Thursday, the Berliners can claim their third championship title in a row and their fifth in the last six seasons at home.

As has often been the case in the current playoffs, an Eisbären player who is not normally there came into the spotlight in Mannheim. Eric Mik, 26-year-old defender, scored three times and made history: no defender had ever scored a hat trick in a DEL final. “If someone had told me that before, I would have said: OK, come on,” said Mik after the game, “today I had a nose for goal.” The defender had previously scored a total of four times in 51 main round games. In the difficult Eisbären main round he was one of the few who remained injury-free. “When you looked at the list of injuries, you just asked yourself what was actually going on here. There were never fewer, but rather more and more,” said Mik.

Mik is one of the numerous Berlin players who made their way from their own youth into the professional team and became established players. The Berlin native came to the Eisbären from Preußen Berlin as a 14-year-old, made his debut in the DEL in 2018 and has only worn the Eisbären jersey since then. In his first years he learned a lot from Frank Hördler, who won nine championships with the Eisbären. Mik now has four titles. His successes with the Berliners opened the door for him to the national team: in 2025 he played his first World Cup games for Germany, in February he was in the extended Olympic squad, but did not make it into the final squad for Milan.

The Berlin game system always puts the defenders in good finishing positions

The core of the team around homegrown players Jonas Müller, Kai Wissmann (joined the club as a 15-year-old) and Mik is the basis on which the Eisbären have built their successes in recent years. “Everyone says the right things in the locker room, everyone does the right things on the ice,” explained striker Frederik Tiffels, who is on the verge of his third championship title with the Eisbären.

In the past few weeks, Berlin’s defense players have regularly stolen the show from their own strikers. Mik, who now has four playoff goals, is just one of many Eisbären defenders who also shine offensively in the playoffs. His national team colleague Jonas Müller has already scored five playoff goals, as has Les Lancaster, who scored the important 2-1 on Tuesday (25th). Adam Smith has three playoff goals, the young Moritz Kretzschmar has two. “Our defenders play a huge role,” praised Tiffels at Magentasport. Coach Serge Aubin’s aggressive and run-intensive playing system always puts the defenders in good positions – and they repay it with precise finishes.

What was significant for the depth of the Berlin squad was that Mik led the way that evening when captain Kai Wissmann took himself out of the game after just 21 seconds of the game with a check against Maximilian Heim’s head. After Wissman’s game-time disciplinary penalty, “we had to regroup,” said Serge Aubin – and the polar bears managed that too. The coach described it this way: “The boys did what they had to do.” They’ve been doing that for years: The Kölner Haie had no chance in the 2025 final series, the goal difference in the last six final games (across seasons) speaks volumes: 38:5 for Berlin.

Looking ahead to the fourth and possibly decisive game on Thursday in Berlin (7.30 p.m., Magentasport and DF1), Mik said: “We are still not finished.” He meant the current final series. However, the sentence could also apply to the future of the polar bears.