The Eisbären Berlin are about to win their tenth championship in the German Ice Hockey League. After the 4:1 (1:0, 0:1, 3:0) in the fourth playoff final game on Tuesday against the Fischtown Pinguins from Bremerhaven, coach Serge Aubin’s team is only separated by another success from another championship. In the best-of-seven series, in which four wins are needed to win the title, the score is now 3-1 for the Berliners. The polar bears can make everything clear as early as Friday (7.30 p.m./MagentaSport).
On Tuesday, Ty Ronning scored a hat-trick and his playoff goals six, seven and eight (18th minute/48th/56th) to help the main round runners-up win again against Bremerhaven, who had won the first final game. When the guests took goalkeeper Kristers Gudlevskis off the ice in favor of another field player after the 1:3, national player Frederik Tiffels scored into the empty goal for the final score (59th). For the Penguins, Philip Bruggisser (32nd) equalized with a slap shot to make it 1-1.
The North Sea Club finished the main round first, but is in a final series for the first time ever. As in the previous finals, the 14,200 spectators in the sold-out hall saw a great game with high intensity. Bremerhaven fought passionately and was only beaten this time by Ronning’s individual class in the final minutes of the game. It would be the third title in four years for the Berliners. After the 2021 and 2022 championships, the Eisbären didn’t make it into the playoffs last year. Nevertheless, the club stuck with coach Aubin and made it back to the DEL final with a few squad changes. However, national player Marcel Noebels is missing there. The 2023 vice world champion and 2018 Olympic silver medalist was injured in the second final game. The 32-year-old is likely to miss the World Cup in May in the Czech Republic.