4-0 against the Kölner Haie: The polar bears rush into the semi-finals
It wasn’t always nice to watch, but then it was still superior what the Eisbären Berlin brought onto the ice in the third game of the quarter-final series against the Kölner Haie. The champion is in the semi-finals of the play-offs in the German Ice Hockey League (DEL). With Berlin’s 4-0 (1-0, 1-0, 2-0) success, the best-of-five series came to an end on Thursday evening, which was not close after the first two games between Berlin and Cologne was a miracle came. The people of Cologne were consistently not an equal opponent for the table first in the main round.
The polar bears continued where they left off on Tuesday in Cologne with a 5-1 win in game two of the series. After just three minutes, Manuel Wiederer scored to make it 1-0 for the Berliners. Cologne needed eleven minutes to get the first shot on goal. Once again, the field of the table tenth of the DEL main round mainly due to a rustic gait – even if the really big fights didn’t take place on Thursday. First at the man, then at some point at the puck – old-school hockey of the bad kind was what the sharks celebrated. In this respect it is also quite good that this series is history.
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After Zach Boychuk made it 2-0 for the polar bears in the second period, scored on the power play, the game was actually over. The sharks also had chances, but were too harmless overall – which of course only affected their playful means.
Boychuk then scored to make it 3-0 in the 45th minute of the game and from then on there was celebration in the arena. Which was also popular, because it may not be as easy as it was against Cologne in the further course of the play-offs for the polar bears, who have certainly not only been a very hot candidate for their next championship title since Thursday.
Finally the arena was (almost) full again
Uwe Krupp, who was fined by the league after the referee’s ring after game two, then completely spoiled the evening when he took goalkeeper six Justin Pogge off the ice in favor of a ten field player. A little later Giovanni Fiore sunk the puck in the empty Cologne goal. But of course Krupp had to try. In the end, the Cologne team could only win two goals in the entire series, so you can’t get any further despite all the love.
It was also pleasing from the polar bears’ point of view that the Mercedes-Benz Arena was full of war this time as it was in the first play-off game. After all, 13,717 spectators found their way into the hall, which was the record crowd for this season. But there is still room for improvement and there is still more to come, even if the opponent of the polar bears in the semi-finals has not yet been determined. The other three series did not yet find a winner on Thursday.