The Eisbären Berlin used their second match point and reached the finals of the German Ice Hockey League (DEL). The DEL record champions beat the Straubing Tigers in game five with 3:2 (0:0, 1:1, 1:1, 1:0) after extra time in their own hall and scored after the 4:1 in the Best-of-seven series in the final against Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven. Straubing missed the first final appearance in the club’s history.
“What a fight that was,” said Ty Ronning, who scored the much-celebrated winning goal in the seventh minute of overtime. But the job is “not yet done. We are not finished yet. It will depend on the little things, it will be a great finale.”
After Straubing fended off the first match point at home on Sunday (3:2), both teams once again exchanged blows in Berlin. After an opening third without a goal, Marcel Noebels gave the nine-time champion from the capital the lead in the second half. In the intense game, Philip Samuelsson (31st) equalized.
As was the case three days ago, a duel developed at eye level. Justin Scott initially turned the game in Straubing’s favor (41′), but just a few seconds later Berlin’s answer came from Tobias Eder (42′). In the seventh minute of overtime, Marco Nowak scored the much celebrated winning goal.
Bernd Schwickerath Published/Updated: David Lindenfeld and Valentin Teufel Published/Updated: Recommendations: 1 Published/Updated: Recommendations: 4
With the 3-0 win on Tuesday against defending champions Red Bull Munich, the Bremerhaven team also made it into the DEL final for the first time in their club history after just the fifth game, while Munich was eliminated in the semi-finals for the first time. The final series begins on April 17th. Bremerhaven enjoys home advantage as main round winners in the first, third and possible fifth and seventh games.
