In the small block of guests in the Uber Arena on Easter Monday, around 200 ice hockey fans from Straubing gave their all. They couldn’t be ignored – for the entire first semi-final game in the Eisbären’s play-off series. But all the acoustic use of their appendix was of no use to the professionals from the Straubing Tigers in terms of results; only the polar bears got their money’s worth. The Berliners won the first game of the “best of seven” series in front of 14,200 spectators with a lot of efficiency and little frills 3:1 (1:0, 2:0, 0:1).
The fact is that Berlin versus Straubing has neither a particularly explosive nature nor a long history. Straubing is not Mannheim for the Berliners, before and in the quarter-final series against the Adler there was a lot of noise there, verbally and on the ice. However, no one in Berlin has anything against the small town club from pretty Straubing: the Eisbären met the Lower Bavarians three times in the knockout phase of the season, each time they won. Twice in the pre-play-offs and once in the semi-finals (2012).
It’s worth a lot for Straubing to even reach the semi-finals. The underdogs don’t have to see themselves as completely without a chance against the record champions of the German Ice Hockey League (DEL), in the main round of this season the Tigers won three of four games against the Eisbären.
Obviously still in good spirits after the seven-game quarter-final series against Schwenningen that only ended on Saturday, Straubing got off to a very smooth start in Berlin on Monday. They were initially stronger in the duels and mentally quicker than the polar bears and were celebrating after just seven minutes of the game – but too early. A goal by Nicola Mattinen was disallowed after consulting the video evidence. Joshua Samanski had hindered Eisbären goalkeeper Jake Hildebrand with his stick.
Straubing played, the polar bears scored
Straubing played, the Eisbären scored the goals. “Goals out of nowhere,” as Axel Kammerer thought. “The exploitation of opportunities is the difference.” The former Preussen Berlin star was in the arena in an official capacity as a series companion for the DEL. Goal number one, not from nowhere, but from a good position in the slot, was scored by Kai Wissmann. The Eisbären captain slid in front of the Straubinger goal completely unmolested and was able to choose the left corner. The 2-0 came in the second third after a counterattack, this time ex-Straubinger Manuel Wiederer scored for the Berliners.
Just a little later it was Blaine Byron who, after a remarkable assist from Thomas Schemitsch, slotted the ball into the Straubinger goal to make it 3-0. But it wasn’t over for the brave Lower Bavarians yet; they continued to work on the posts of the Berlin gate, did a lot and reaped minimal profits. It wasn’t until two minutes before the end that Tyler Sheehy scored a consolation goal.
On the other hand, the Eisbären were of course able to sell their performance as particularly clever; the Berliners were very effective and much more dangerous in front of the goal than their opponents.
And so the Eisbären saw the game through quite comfortably in the final third. They didn’t allow themselves to be disturbed by a small outburst from Straubing’s Cody Lampl, who had to leave the ice early after a foul on Zach Boychuk (check on the head and neck area). The Straubing connecting gate no longer irritated the Berliners either.
On Wednesday it could be a little more difficult for the Eisbären in game two of the series in the stadium at the Pulverturm than on Monday in Berlin. The Berliners have not been able to win in Straubing since 2021. But with a 1-0 series lead behind them, things might now be a little easier for the polar bears. Their coach Serge Aubin said: “It was quite good at times today, but we still have the potential to improve as the series progresses. I expect a completely different game on Wednesday.”