Ahead of his team's Round of 16 series against Frolunda Gothenburg, experienced defenceman Constantin Braun knows what Eisbaren Berlin have to do to be successful against the champions.

by Derek O'Brien

Not many people are giving Eisbaren Berlin much of a chance in the Champions Hockey League Round of 16 against defending champions Frolunda Gothenburg. Don't try telling any Eisbaren players that they don't have a chance, though. On the contrary, as defenceman Constantin Braun expressed, they've beaten Swedish teams before and they know what it takes to do it again.

“We played in the European Trophy for a few years and in 2010 we won it, so we've faced Swedish teams before and we know how they like to play,” the 28-year-old mainstay on the German national team said. “They're all great players, they can skate and they can shoot the puck. The thing is though, they like to control the puck and don't like to play without it, so if we try to get them away from the way they're comfortable, that's our best chance for success.”

Braun is one of eight players still on the team from 2010 that beat all four Swedish teams they faced, including Farjestad Karlstad in the final by a score of 5-3. Three years, later, they hosted Frolunda at Berlin's Mercedes-Benz Arena – then called O2 World – and beat them 4-3. And of course, in this year's group stage they beat former CHL champs Lulea Hockey twice.

“A lot of us have been here for several years now,” he said, talking about the core of players that has been in place several years. Braun transferred to the club from Mannheim in 2004 as a 16-year-old, and advanced to the pro team within a couple years via the club's junior program. Players who have seniority over him include defencemen Jens Baxmann and Frank Hoerdler and forwards Florian Busch and Andre Rankel, the team captain. Constantin's younger brother Laurin Braun came a year later. “Like me, they came here when they were young – 16 or 17 years old – so we know each other pretty well and we've forged a pretty strong identity here, and the organization takes really good care of us.” 

Canadian general manager Peter John Lee, a former NHLer, has supplemented that homegrown German talent with reinforcements from abroad. Key acquisitions include Finnish netminder Petri Vehanen, Canadian defencemen Micki Dupont and Bruno Gervais and Canadian forwards Nicholas Petersen and Darin Olver. 

“The best roommate I've had this year is Gervais, a French Canadian,” he said, with current roommate Dupont within earshot.

When asked what makes Eisbaren Berlin such an attractive club to attract players from elsewhere, he answered, “I think it's a combination of the city and the organization. Everybody knows Berlin – it's world-famous. It's an amazing city, you never get bored here. The people are great and the hockey fans here are great too. We get lots of people coming out to watch us play, there's great atmosphere in the arena, and it gets a reputation as a place that players like to come to, both Germans and from other places.”

The ability to attract top talent translated into seven DEL titles in a nine-year period from 2004-05 to 2012-13, plus the aforementioned European Trophy win. Then there was an abrupt drop-off in the next couple of years, which necessitated a change. After a poor showing in the 2014-15 CHL and a bad start to the DEL season, German hockey legend Uwe Krupp was brought in to take over as head coach.

“When he first came here he instilled a feeling of confidence in ourselves, that we were a good team,” Braun said of Krupp. “It took some time to really get to know what he wanted, but you could see the change last year when we finished second in the regular season. He really stresses defence – he says if we play good defence, everything takes care of itself. That's not just the defencemen, but the forwards too, everybody on the same page. I think that's a good mindset and I like the way he coaches.

“I've worked with him for many, many years. He used to be the national team coach and the first time I played for him I was around 18, so I've known him for 10 years now.”

Krupp's defence-first approach led to an improvement in the domestic standings last year and a spot in the CHL's Round of 16 – the first German team to make it that far. This year they're back, which is amazing considering they were grouped with teams from Sweden and Finland.

“So far I'm really happy with the way we've played in the Champions League,” he said. “That was big to start with a win at home against Lulea, and then up there started really strong, went up 4-0 and I think we got a lot of confidence from that. Obviously we wanted to beat the Finnish team (SaiPa Lappeenranta) too, but in the end we advanced to the next round, which I think surprised a lot of people.”

About the team's Round of 32 victory, he said: “Then everyone thought we would lose to EV Zug, but we started with a 4-0 win at home and then we won there too, so I'm really happy so far.”

And while not intimidated by Swedish opponents, Braun knows that “as the champions, Frolunda is going to be a challenge. I haven't seen them play yet this year, but we're going to start preparing for that in the coming days – watching video and coming up with a plan. It should be fun.”

He sees using home ice to Berlin's advantage and dictating the play in the first game as key. “We have to play them really tight and hard, and if we can do that at home it gives us a really good chance. If we can get them to play our game, like you saw against Lulea, then they might turn over the puck and then we've got to be ready for our opportunities.”

As for the return game in Gothenburg, where the Indians have come back to win on numerous occasions, he simply said, “We'll get the best result we can at home and then see what the situation is when we go up to Sweden.”

And as for the fact that nobody is giving them a chance: “Nobody expected us to beat the Swedish team even once, but we beat them twice, so maybe the underdog role is good for us.”