Before the Polar Bears match in Wolfsburg, an interesting rumor spread about the Berlin club of the German Ice Hockey League (DEL). Goalkeeper Matthias Niederberger is allegedly on the verge of switching to the KHL, the league under Russian supervision. She said that the company Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg offered a lot of money. After all, after 22 matches and 70 goals conceded, the club is looking for a new goalkeeper. However, the polar bears themselves were amazed. “It’s good that we know that now,” sporting director Stefan Reicher said with a laugh. There is certainly none, said managing director Thomas Boothstead.
It would also be a blow to the polar bears who put Tobias Anseka in her team’s goal instead of Niederberger on Sunday in Wolfsburg. So this would have fit the rumor, but due to the tight schedule, a change was announced for good reason. And Ancicka did his job right, but Berlin lost 4:5 (1:1, 2:2, 1:1/0:1) after extra time with the Grizzlys thus breaking their incredible guest series after seven consecutive successes on the opposite side ice Generous.
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In the Wolfsburg match there was certainly something to be said. Sunday’s first game in the league was very fast paced with the first encounter, although at first it looked as if the Berlin players were smarter. Isbreen took the lead in the first third with a goal from Jonas Muller, but when they were outnumbered, they conceded a 1-1 equalizer from Trevor Minguya.
Wolfsburg draw their strong strength
After Leo Pföderl and superb captain Frank Hurdler scored for the Berlin side in the second round, nothing stood in the way of Berlin’s success – until Yannick Velo brought the game back to Wolfsburg. After the Canadian received a double penalty kick for two minutes for high sticks, the Wolfsburg team returned to its strong strength and scored two goals. Minguya scored 2:3 and tied Spencer Machak, who was active in the polar bears. To make matters worse for Berliners, Blaine Byron – apparently injured – entered the locker room in the second trimester. For him, Zach Boychuk moved alongside Pföderl and Marcel Noebels in the most dangerous storm streak of polar bears. “I don’t think it’s a bad thing,” coach Serge Oppen said after the match.
Byron’s ideas and skills were noticeably absent in the Berlin match after that, but at least the polar bears can count on their strength in the still very powerful game. Kevin Clark hit the inner post with a powerful shot and knocked the ball past Wolfsburg. Lower Saxony responded, but Jordan Murray scored 4:4 – again in the majority game, Anseka didn’t look good with that goal. So it went into extra time and the Berlin team got the best chances, Matt White even hit the post, but in return Darren Archibald scored the winning goal for Wolfsburg.
For the Cubs, the success against the Berlin team was a great feeling. In the last series of the previous season, when the Berlin team won the title, they still had a great chance of winning the championship on their own ice. Maybe it helped them That their fans among the 2,950 spectators at the ice rink already had acoustic supremacy over the many polar bear fans who traveled with them, but applauded their team despite the narrow defeat. Because there wasn’t much to complain about in the Berliners’ performance – except for the game, which was outnumbered, perhaps.