Thursday, 15. October 2026 |
DEL Preview, Matchday 9: Red Bull München Visits the Eisbären Berlin
Our Form
With three wins in our last four games, our overall trend is on the upswing. Most recently, thanks in part to another strong power play and newly formed forward lines, the Red Bulls provided the right response to their previous derby loss to Ingolstadt with a 4-3 victory in Schwenningen.
Above all, the chemistry between Dominik Kahun, who scored twice, and Taro Hirose worked very well in the Black Forest. The two played together for the first time. An option for the future? “Yes, definitely. Dominik is a great player. He’s always able to do something with the puck. That makes it easy for me,” said Hirose.
It’s quite possible that the two will form a forward line together with Tobias Rieder in Berlin as well. “Our first game together went well. We want to build on that and continue to develop our chemistry on the ice,” emphasized our number 17.
1-4 | A dream pass from Taro Hirose, and Dominik Kahun scores again
// Gameday
The Opponent
Of course, the Eisbären are well aware of the strengths of Kahun, Hirose, and Rieder. But the reigning champions are off to another stellar start this season. New head coach Éric Dubois, who took over from championship-winning coach Serge Aubin, has led his team to first place in the PENNY DEL with 20 points after eight games. In addition, Berlin boasts the league’s best offense with 31 goals and the most solid defense, having allowed only twelve goals. Things are also going well in the Champions League after some initial struggles: On Wednesday evening, they secured a 2-1 victory over Klagenfurt.
Their defensive performance is closely tied to two new additions. Canadian defenseman Brandon Davidson (who came from Kometa Brno) has been clearing everything out of the way so far, and in goal, Jonas Neffin—who came from the Eisbären Regensburg in the DEL2—has been impressive. The 26-year-old from Iserlohn has been outstanding and has been nearly unbeatable so far.
Up front, it’s business as usual. That means Ty Ronning and Liam Kirk are scoring consistently and racking up plenty of goals. Kirk leads the league in scoring with five goals and eleven assists, while his dynamic forward partner trails closely behind with seven goals and five assists. The lightning-fast Jean-Luc Foudy (who joined the team after the season started from the Iowa Wild) has also fit in brilliantly, racking up six points in six games.
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Gabriel Fontaine, who returned to the capital after a year in Munich, has not yet really made his mark, with just three assists in five games.
The Matchup
Four home games, four wins, 17-3 goal differential: The Eisbären got off to a dream start, especially at home, and will come out of the locker room with their usual intensity and offensive firepower. But as always in Berlin, the Red Bulls have no intention of sitting back; instead, they’ll look to push forward across all four lines and make their mark with their play.
In this context, our challenge will be to seek—and find—the right balance between defense and offense. After all, too many turnovers while moving the puck forward are extremely dangerous, especially against the hosts’ fast and technically skilled attackers. Too many counterattacks will come back to haunt us sooner or later; the Berlin offense simply has too much quality for that.
Player in Focus
With ten points, Taro Hirose is once again our top scorer so far this season. But he isn’t entirely satisfied yet. “I’ve missed a few chances and could have scored more goals,” he says self-critically. So far, the Munich forward has one goal and nine assists. “Still, I think I’ve had a good start—with a few minor ups and downs. Just like us as a team.”
Maybe he’ll score his second goal of the season against Berlin. However, the hottest goalie of the season so far is likely to be between the posts there on Friday as well. After all, Jonas Neffin has recorded a whopping four shutouts in his five appearances in goal for Berlin so far. With a save percentage of 99.16 percent and a goals-against average of 0.2, the current DEL2 “Player and Goaltender of the Year” is putting up incredible numbers.
So how do our guys plan to beat Neffin? Hirose’s recipe sounds simple: “We basically have to do the same thing we always do: get a lot of pucks on goal and create a lot of traffic in front of him so it’s tough for him,” he says, outlining his formula for success.
Facts and Figures
Friday night marks the 85th matchup between Munich and Berlin. So far, the Red Bulls have come out on top 48 times, while the Eisbären have emerged victorious 36 times (goal differential: 259–228 in Munich’s favor).
With the exception of the most recent matchup, the last five games between the two teams have all been fiercely contested and ended with a margin of just one or two goals. Last season, we won the first two matchups 3–2 and 3–1, after which the team from the capital claimed two victories (3–2, 5–1).
Match Day Info
The game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. at the Uber Arena on Uber Platz in Berlin’s Friedrichshain district. The match will be broadcast on MagentaSport, and of course, as usual, we’ll be covering it in the live blog on our website and in the app.
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