The Iserlohn Roosters celebrated their next victory in the DEL and beat the Eisbären Berlin thanks to a late goal.
Just two days after winning the penalty shootout in Augsburg, the Roosters defeated the favored Eisbären 4:3 (2:0, 0:3, 2:0) in their own hall. The Sauerlanders now have 41 points and are still gaining room in the bottom of the table. The gap to the Dresden Eislöwen in the relegation zone is a whopping 19 points. The first pre-playoff place, however, is only seven points away.
Daniel Neumann (10th), Anthony Camara (17th) initially gave Iserlohn a 2-0 lead. Liam Kirk (28th/39th) and Blaine Byron turned the game around for the guests. The man of the game was Iserlohn’s Colin Ugbekile, who secured the three points with two goals in the final third (51st/59th).
The Eisbären failed to put pressure on the playoff places and remain in seventh place with 59 points, four points behind the Fischtown Pinguins.
Törnqvist dupes them Polar bear defense
The game took quite a while to get going. A lot of interruptions didn’t exactly make the game flow. Berlin had more shots, but was hardly dangerous. The Roosters, who took the lead straight away with their first fluid attack of the game, were completely different: Camara passed it to Neumann, who poked the puck over the line on his second attempt.
The Eisbären had to shake themselves up briefly, but had a great chance to equalize in the 16th minute. After Iserlohn lost a target, Jonas Müller drove alone towards the Roosters goal, but goalkeeper Andreas Jenike was there with the pad.
And almost immediately it was 2-0. Henrik Törnqvist duped the Eisbären defense when he didn’t play a face-off backwards, but simply ran forward. Camara, who was completely free in front of the goal, pushed his assist into the net (17th).
Berlin takes over in the middle third
The Roosters went into the second third with a lead, but the middle period was not to be the Iserlohner’s period. At first the IEC was lucky because Ty Ronning only hit the crossbar in the Berlin power play (22nd). Then the IEC had bad luck when Berlin goalie Jonas Stettmer made a strong save against Jakub Borzecki (24th).
But then the Roosters brought the Polar Bears back into the game. Kirk took the puck in his own third and stayed cool in front of Jenike – it was his twelfth goal in the eighth game in a row. And the goal visibly gave the guests a boost, because just one minute and 35 seconds later, Frederik Tiffels put the puck from behind the goal into the slot, where Byron powerfully scored to equalize.
From then on it looked like a Berlin power play, even though no Iserlohn player was on the penalty list. The polar bears restricted the guests in their own third. And then Kirk had an idea. The Brit curved the puck through the entire Iserlohn third and then tricked Jenike with the pawn trick. From behind the goal he put the disc into the net to make it 3-2 for Berlin – the game turned around (39′).
Ugbekile with the equalizer
So the Roosters suddenly found themselves behind. The Eisbären initially stayed on the accelerator and moved the game further into the Roosters’ third. But it was rarely dangerous.
It was only towards the middle of the period that the Roosters got more breathing room again – and took advantage of it: Ugbekile shot from a distance while standing alone. Stettmer had a lot of traffic in front of him and let the window pass. The goalie complained, but the goal stood up to video evidence (51st).
Just under six minutes before the end, the Roosters even had the chance to take the lead, but let it pass. The chance that Camara had in equal numbers was also much greater. Ronning blocked the shot with his bat (57th).
Ugbekile with the Lucky Punch
Iserlohn was the much more active team towards the end of the third – and actually got the lucky punch. After winning a face-off, the puck landed at Ugbekile, who left the blue line and hit the ball past friend and foe into the bottom corner (59′). Eisbären goalie Stettmer then left the ice, but Berlin was unable to equalize.
Iserlohn continues on Sunday (4:30 p.m.) with an away game at EHC Munich. The polar bears will be guests at the Dresden Eislöwen on Saturday (5 p.m.).
Our sources:
- Game Iserlohn Roosters against Eisbären Berlin from January 8th, 2026
Broadcast: “Eisbären Berlin lose in Iserlohn”, WDR.de, January 8th, 2026, 10:23 p.m
