BERLIN — Mercedes Platz was buzzing as it ticked towards game time in the 2022 NHL Global Series Challenge between the San Jose Sharks and Eisbaren Berlin of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga.
New York Rangers jerseys slipped by Boston Bruins sweaters, a woman in a Vancouver Canucks jersey rested in a chair and a couple in matching Carey Price Montreal Canadiens jerseys populated the stands at Mercedes-Benz Arena, in addition to the expected Eisbaren Berlin apparel. The most prevalent of the NHL lot, of course, were Sharks jerseys, ranging from Joe Thornton to Patrick Marleau to Christian Ehrhoff.
The chants barely stopped. There was always a call-and-response or a drumbeat or a song, always a cheer and a flag waving and a level of noise during the play that might give North American hockey purists a migraine. It was European soccer, converted.
“I got my first taste of the fan participation when I went to the soccer match on Sunday,” Sharks coach David Quinn said of the game between Hertha BSC and TSG 1899 Hoffenheim that the team attended at Olympiastadion Berlin. “People are very passionate about their sports here. It was a lot of fun for our players and for me to play in that type of environment.”
The NHL Global Series Challenge served as the Sharks’ final preseason game before their regular season kicks off with the 2022 NHL Global Series, with back-to-back games between San Jose and the Nashville Predators on Friday and Saturday at the O2 Arena in Prague.
“The home fans, the drums, singing, that’s what I’m actually used to for all my life before I got to the NHL,” said the Sharks forward. Thomas Hertl, who was born in Prague. “That’s kind of the European style of fans. So hopefully we’ll have a lot of fans on our side [in Prague] because we’ve got the Czech guys and I’m playing at home.”
At Mercedes-Benz Arena on Tuesday, the cacophony from the 12,013 in attendance came particularly from the Hartmut Nickel Kurve, the section directly behind the visitors’ net that was renamed for the former player and coach who spent 53 years with Eisbaren Berlin and SC Dynamo. Berlin until his retirement in 2016.
And it was never louder than at the 12:10 mark of the second period, when Eisbaren Berlin opened the scoring on a goal by Giovanni Fiore. Goalie Kaapo Kahkonen had replaced James Reimer 45 seconds earlier and Eisbaren Berlin took advantage.
The fans stood, twirling scarves above their heads, repeating the score back to the announcer, and generally reveling in the fact that their club now had the lead on an NHL team.
“It’s obviously very different,” Sharks forward Steven Lorentz said. “The chanting and they kind of jump around and the drums that they have even during the play. There were a couple times that I was just sitting back on the bench, and you enjoy the passion they were showing for their home team.”
The Sharks would come back to win, starting with a goal by Hertl with 2:54 remaining in the second period, he scored after a no-look pass back from the goal line by Timo Meier. Forty seconds later there was another for the Sharks, this one from Lorentz. With 11:56 remaining in the third, Luke Kunin finished off the scoring while shorthanded for a 3-1 win for the Sharks.
“It was a fun feeling,” Meier said. “I think in the beginning we didn’t start the way we wanted to, but I think overall it was a great experience, a great crowd and we won the game. So overall, just a great experience and everybody enjoyed it.”
The only mark on the game was the absence of Nico Sturm, the sole German native on the Sharks. Sturm took a hard hit in the Sharks final preseason game in North America, against the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday, and was ruled out because of an injury before the game.
But the Sharks managed to include him. Sturm, from Augsburg, Germany, got his big moment before the game started, exchanging jerseys on-ice with Marcel Noebels of Eisbaren Berlin to cheers from the crowd. And there was another, just for the Sharks.
“I really feel bad for Nico,” Quinn said. “It would have been nice for him to play. But this is a special time. He actually got excited when I told him he was going to read the lineup, so I can’t imagine how excited he would have been if he actually was able to play.”
It wasn’t only thrilling for the Sharks. For Eisbaren Berlin, the two-time defending champion of the DEL, it was just as exciting.
“A lot of our guys, they follow the NHL,” Eisbaren Berlin coach Serge Aubin said. “They got to see it from far away. And now they got to live that experience.”
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