The Champions Hockey League press conference road show moved on to Berlin today for an event with the three DEL teams participating and German media.
Not far from the Eisbären's home area, journalists heard about the CHL last season and new things for this year, before hearing from the teams and players themselves.
"We had 25 DEL players in the Olympic Games that won the silver medal, and it helped the attendances in our playoffs a lot," said a proud DEL Chief Executive Gernot Tripcke. "In the last few years our teams did very well in the group stages but not further. They prepare very well, but playoff games were very close and I know they have that little bit more this season to get into the Quarter-Finals or further."
"I think it's an honour to play in the CHL, with the best teams in Europe," affirmed THOMAS SABO Ice Tigers Head Coach Kevin Gaudet. "If you win it, you have the right to say you are the best in Europe, and that really means something."
"We're looking forward to competing with the best teams in Europe and to make the next round. Of course it's also nice to see other teams, we play those in our own league four times a season so it's something different which is fun," added Ice Tigers' captain Patrick Reimer. "These teams will play slightly faster than we do, and I'm also pleased for our younger players to have this opportunity to play other European clubs."
"We have to put German hockey on the map"Clement Jodoin
Clement Jodoin is in his first season with the Eisbären, but has some clear aims in the CHL. "I want to see Germany on the map - we'd like to win, but if it's not us then I want one of the other teams from our league to go on and do well. German ice hockey is good - and the players' first responsibility is to represent the DEL and Germany. The beauty of this league is the best play the best; it tells us where we are as an organisation. It also pushes us to organise our team very quickly in the season, next week we have to be ready to play. We have to push ourselves to go up to the next level every time."
Red Bull Munich have won three straight DEL titles but only got as far as the Round of 16 in the CHL. Are they trying to go further and win it? "Well of course, we would we play not to win this trophy? I agree with Clement that we want German hockey to go up to another level," said Head Coach Don Jackson. "We always look forward to playing, we know that we're playing against clubs with great skill, speed and intelligence; that's why this format is really special for us. We know we have players in our league that can win. As we saw last year with Nottingham, anyone can win."
Team captain Michael Wolf added: "We're looking forward to every game. We've played teams from Sweden & Finland before and we know they have great quality. We wanted to qualify for the CHL again, that was our aim last season, and we want to win it - but of course the other 31 are probably thinking the same."