Ice hockey striker Leo Pföderl wins the German DEL championship title with Berlin and puts the Tölzer Löwen off for the season after next.
Berlin / Gaißach - For the moment, Corona was forgotten.
After the final siren there was no stopping it.
The Eisbären Berlin stormed onto the ice, fell into each other's arms.
Right in the middle and right at the front: Leo Pföderl, the striker from Gaißach, who came to Berlin from Nuremberg last season and hit the ground running.
Together with Marcel Noebels and Lukas Reichel, the 27-year-old became the best offensive series in the league.
Crazy season ends at the top
Pföderl was the Eisbären top scorer, scored 20 times in the main round and prepared 17 goals. In the end, he had 42 scorer points and also scored the decisive goal for the 2-1 victory over the Grizzlys Wolfsburg in this final play-off final. "I already had my share, but others have also scored important goals and contributed to this title," says the trained bricklayer modestly.
German champion - a title that the Berliners had on the bill for this crazy season. Which, of course, slipped temporarily out of reach a few times in the play-offs: In every round - first against Iserlohn, then against Ingolstadt and finally against Wolfsburg - the Eisbären were 1-0 down in the series. With the best-of-three mode, the big dream can be over very quickly. For Pföderl, however, it has come true. "Brutal, as we have always turned it around," says the Gaißacher happily.
He has already achieved a lot in his career: Oberliga champion 2012 with the Tölzer Löwen, two years later he made a name for himself in the DEL, advanced to a top performer in Nuremberg, moved to Berlin in 2019, now the title in the top German division.
In between, he won the silver medal with Germany at the 2018 Olympics in Pyongchang.
"But such a German championship title - there is hardly anything bigger," says Pföderl.
The team has been partying almost without a break since Friday.
Not that easy in Corona times.
"But to get the pot, you have to celebrate somehow." And so the Berlin players - all of them tested - came together on Sunday near the Bode Museum in the open air.
Pföderl: "25 degrees, it can be endured well."
Mental strength: turned the series deficit three times
Pföderl's success is based primarily on the polar bears' mental strength.
“We joked that we only turned up after we were 0-1 down,” says the Gaißacher.
"We needed drama." It is all the nicer that the top of the table in Group North in the main round in the play-offs always managed to win the two decisive games after falling behind.
Pföderl: "The troop was absolutely amazing, especially in the play-offs."
The quality of the team was beyond question - even if it had changed a lot before the start of this Corona season.
“The season was crazy.
We met in August, but no one knew what to do next. ”The start was postponed twice, players got tired of it, left, others came.
“But that worked,” says Pföderl.
"The new ones came in well."
Empty hall, full performance
The demands were high in Berlin, the title was the goal.
"But that it really works to get the thing - madness," says the 27-year-old.
He, too, expected a lot from himself.
And then Corona: no spectators, empty halls.
“Normally you play in front of 15,000 people in Berlin, and now nobody is there.” But the coach, the Canadian Serge Aubin, was supposed to lead the team to the greatest success in eight years, didn't care, he wanted to see performance.
And the polar bears showed them.
"We were happy when it started, and at some point it didn't matter how many people were in the stadium." They didn't let their mood spoil when partying.
Pföderl goes to the World Cup
However, Pföderl has to be fit again soon.
Already today he and his Berlin colleagues, goalkeeper Mathias Niederberger, defender Jonas Müller and Pföderl's storm row are joining the national team in preparation for the World Cup.
He himself had wondered whether he - like some other players - would like to do without the tournament.
"But I decided against it, and now I really want to go to the World Cup," Pföderl clarifies and adds: "We'll get the title now too." With the self-confidence of the German champions.
But maybe not meant very seriously.
How will things continue after this successful season?
“I'm staying in Berlin, and that's a good thing.” Anything else?
Music of the future.
And he ruled out a return to the Tölzer Löwen for the time being, smiles: “The season after next at the earliest.
