The Berlin Eisbären (blue) were brought to their knees time and time again by the Munich leaders.
Photo: imago/Juergen Engler
The “longing for the fourth championship title” that successful coach Don Jackson repeatedly talks about seems to finally come true for his Munich ice hockey pros this season. For Jackson, who once won five titles with the Eisbären Berlin and then three more championships with Munich, the ninth trophy in the German Ice Hockey League (DEL) would be a unique triumph. On Monday evening, the sovereign leader had more trouble than expected on this 38th match day, but with his 28th win of the season and 82 points, they are still clearly ahead of the closest pursuers from Ingolstadt and Mannheim with 15 points. Nevertheless, Jackson reacts cautiously as usual when his team is described as the “big favorite for the title”. “Wait and see,” he says, “we must continue to be careful.”
That should also be the right keyword for the polar bears, who are going through the biggest crisis in their club’s history and have to “be careful” not to give up the league. As tables-13. After the 3-2 defeat against Munich, they are now just outside the relegation zone. Because as things stand, there will be two relegations from the field of 15 DEL clubs at the end of this season in order to get back to the regular quota of 14 teams. Ironically, the 71st duel against the EHC from Bavaria should have been the »encouragement« for the badly weakening Berliners, who longed for a win after three away defeats in a row. Instead of courage, there was only sadness afterwards.
Berlin’s head coach Serge Aubin understandably backed his team: “I’ve seen a lot of positive energy in the team lately. Now it’s about maximizing potential and scoring points.« In the unequal duel with the leaders of the table, this wish was dealt with fairly quickly. After just 42 seconds, the polar bears were 1-0 down thanks to a goal by the completely unmarked ex-Berliner Austin Ortega. Less than ten minutes later it was 0:2; and when the guests finally increased their lead to 3:0 shortly after the start of the second period, the next defeat seemed to be sealed.
Aubin was later visibly annoyed: “We slept through the first half of the game. The boys weren’t there, they were frozen and didn’t play at all.« The fact that his team then improved in the second third and got back into the game thanks to a brace from the outstanding Giovanni Fiore couldn’t appease the coach completely. »30 minutes is not enough to win a game. In the early stages I had a well-established line of attacks and two experienced defenders on the ice. We wanted to get off to a good start, but we failed.” When asked how the glaring weaknesses in defense and offense were to be tackled, he seemed a little at a loss: “We train very hard and you can see it in training also good, but training and competition are two different things.«
With the 24th defeat in just twelve wins and only one point from the last four games, the situation for the polar bears is still precarious, especially since the Augsburg Panthers are second to bottom in the table with their 7-6 away win in Wolfsburg and are behind those in front of them lying Berliners were able to reduce to six points – with two games less! It is pure relegation battle for the champion in the remaining 20 games. It is at least once again against all 14 DEL teams; against Cologne, the next opponent at home on Wednesday, as well as twice more against newly promoted Frankfurt, Wolfsburg and Schwenningen. And you even meet the direct competitor in the relegation battle Augsburg three times. These three matches on January 13th and February 5th at home and on the penultimate matchday (March 3rd away) play a key role in the relegation battle.
Of all the opponents, there are currently only three clubs against which Berlin has a 2-1 advantage: Dusseldorf, Bietigheim and Bremerhaven. This makes it clear how difficult it will be for the polar bears to avoid the threat of relegation with their own victories. In addition to an increase in performance and without support, the specter of relegation cannot be chased away. Giovanni Fiore, who scored twice against Munich, put the situation in a nutshell: “It’s a team sport. Ultimately we have to stick together as a team and take points. Against our next opponents, Cologne, we have to play from the start the way we stopped today against Munich.”
