My sudden love affair with a Deutsche Eishockey-Liga team

So I have recently become a huge fan of the Eisbären Berlin (Berlin Polar Bears) of the German Ice Hockey League, the Deutsche Eishockey-Liga (DEL for short). Why? How? Well, it's not just because Andrei Lomakin played for them from 1995-97. Actually it has nothing to do with Andrei Lomakin, who until today hadn't crossed my mind since about 1992. No, the Eisbären won my heart for other reasons.

The first time I came across the Eisbären was in Berlin last October. I knew that there is a pretty good hockey league in Germany (probably the fourth or fifth best league in Europe) and was hoping I might get a chance to see a game. Sadly my schedule would not permit it. However, upon arriving I did see immediate signs of popular support for the Eisbären in the form of a billboard advertizing tickets.

I stumbled across the Eisbären just a few hours later, when I stopped into for a coffee at Dunkin' Donuts. And before I go any further, yes I too was shocked to learn that there was a Dunkin' Donuts in Berlin of all places. It's not even ubiquitous in the United States - there is no location, for example, in Seattle.

However there it was, smack-dab in the middle of the Zoologischer Garten plaza. I knew that America runs on Dunkin'. I had no idea that Berlin does as well.

Anyway, back to the Eisbären. So the hockey club has a star player named Constantine Braun, who is a draft pick of the LA Kings, and his nickname is apparently "Brownie." So, naturally, the Eisbären, Herr Braun and Dunkin' Donuts teamed up to promote both the hockey club and, you guessed it, Dunkin' Donuts brownies. You could purchase a brownie and Eisbären tickets in one amazing combo.

Needless to say, I was impressed. Hockey, my second favourite multinational coffee chain and bilingual puns make quite the triple threat.

Fast forward five months. I discovered that the Vancity Theatre is showing a variety of hockey-themed movies. Of course the line-up features the cult classic Slap Shot, the acclaimed The Rocket and, awesomely, the unintentionally hilarious Jean-Claude Van Damme masterpiece Sudden Death. One movie stood out to me though, a documentary that I had never heard of: Home Game.

From the Vancity Theatre website:

"The Berlin Eisbarens (Polar Bears) are a professional hockey team with a fanatical following in the depressed, former East Berlin district of Hohenschonhausen. Writer-director Pepe Danquart ( Hell on Wheels ) was commissioned to make a film about the team and their fans despite never having been to a hockey game. The result speaks volumes about the growing gap between the East and West in the supposedly re-unified Germany in a perceptive, funny, enlightening and always entertaining manner. While the film does present a fair bit of on-ice action and dressing-room ritual, it also uses hockey as a vehicle to show the unwillingness of the “Ossies” (East Germans) to kowtow to the cutthroat capitalist ethos of the “Wessies” (West Germans) and the West's incomprehension of the East's desire to be recognized as different."

Wow - does that sound like a great film or what? It was only after reading this description and some quick Wikipedia research that I realized that the team featured in this film is the same one that won me over with its quirky marketing campaign at Berlin Dunkin' Donuts stores.

And then the hook:

"The official song of the Eisbären Berlin is "Hey, wir wollen die Eisbären seh'n" (approximately "Yeah, We Wanna See The Polar Bears"), recorded by veteran East German ban the Puhdys in 1997. The song became a popular tune in German mountain resorts during après-ski parties, and went on to appear on several winter-themed music compilations. It has also been adopted by the club's Russian namesake, HC Dynamo Moscow, and could be heard at their games during the 2008/09 season" (Wikipedia).

There are few things I love more in sports than a rockin' team anthem (something, I might add, the Canucks are sorely missing - a subject I intend to write about on this blog in the future). And boy does Eisbären Berlin have a good tune, compliments of 40-year rock n' roll vets (!) Die Puhtys. Here it is:



Pretty good, eh? It's even better when played over the PA with the crowd singing along. Especially when accompanied by a killer jumbotron presentation featuring, amongst other visual effects, a goalie stopping a puck in front of the Brandenburg Gate:



How could the players and fans not be fired up after that kind of an intro? I'd still be pumped halfway through the second!

Sure the Eisbären have enjoyed a recent run of success lately, capturing the DEL championship in three of the last four years. And sure checking out their roster allows you to finally discover what happened to Stefan Ustorf (remember him? No?). But the club's true charm lies in its passionate fans, creative promotional efforts and, of course, lights-out-awesome theme song.

And that, my friends, why I am now officially a fan of Eisbären Berlin.