The Eisbären Berlin are currently in the middle of their pre-season preparations and have already played a few pre-season games. In the meantime, we talked to Marcel Noebels. The 29-year-old forward has been playing in the German capital since 2014 and has already gained some CHL experience.
As a personal goal for the European competition, he wants to look from round to round this year. "Advancing in the group stage is of course very important for now. I think anyone can beat anyone there. We have to collect the points right from the start. If we advance, I think anything is possible. In the CHL, it can happen very quickly that you play until the end."
No easy task awaits head coach Serge Aubin's team this season. "We've all been following the group draw, of course. It's probably way too early to classify it reasonably but we could be in the best group there is this year. At least as far as the names of our opponents are concerned, there are only good teams in it," Noebels classifies the opponents in Group E. There, they will face Tappara Tampere from Finland, Skellefteå AIK from Sweden and HC Lugano from Switzerland.
Still, Noebels is confident about the quality of his team. "In terms of the squad, we are more broadly based, as we were last year when we won the German championship. The players who have joined will help us well in the long run. That will pay off at the end of the season when we are in a strong position."
Eisbären Berlin's CHL season begins on Friday, August 27 at 8:15 p.m. with a home game against Tappara Tampere, followed by another duel on home ice against the Swedes from Skellefteå. All games of Group E can be seen here in the schedule.