Berlin 2013

The trip started off on a crazy note having to fly from Toronto - Paris - Munich - Berlin , i had my doubts that my bags would make the trip . Usually i don't have these doubts and really i have been doing this for close to 10 years with no problem . This trip was going to be different . The main reason for visiting Berlin was to see the Red Bulls Salute /European Trophy Finals . We bought a package of 5 tickets for 120 Euros , sounds like quite the deal doesn't it .... compare it to Leafs tickets where you are lucky to sit in the nose bleeds for $80 . People don't realize that these hockey clubs are just as good if not better then some NHL clubs ! 

When i arrived in Berlin i was supposed to play in a rink in East Berlin in a very famous historical rink , only problem was that my gear did not arrive . Timo and Rainer came to the airport to pick me up to go directly to the rink but that all changed . Instead i climbed into Timo's vehicle and asked for a beer ... not just any beer ! I want my Wasseralfinger which is a beer from Aalen where Rainer lives , they are in the back just reach over and grab one . I then began to drown my sorrows ... alot ! We had a crazy night ended up running around Berlin drinking , ended up at a bar where we met this cool bartender last time . Unfortunately Silvio wasn't there working bar at Berliner Republik . So we drank more and called it a morning .... first night is always the roughest . The next morning was a hangover and we went to Vapiano to fill the void .... great pasta place kinda like Marche Movenpick back home in Toronto , you order the pasta and sauce you want and they cook it right there in front of you then blam you stuff your face with food ... yummy food ! We walked by the Christmas market a few times , there was an outdoor rink there and it really made it hard for me to realize my gear was missing . Oh did i mention that ? yeah my gear was lost in Paris , only thought on my mind was that i hoped it would be found ! They would only pay 1500 Euros to replace it if they had to and in Europe my pads alone cost more then that .... great , more beer please :) 

The second day we were there we had 2 games to watch JYP vs. Lulea and Berlin vs. Farjestad , so we get to our seats and beer is so cheap . 4 beers were 13 euros or something like this , wow we drank alot ... i mean beer was being spilled everywhere by the time the second game started . We got trashed LOL ! The

crowd was pretty sparse with only about 3000 fans there in a stadium that seats about 14000 it seemed like a ghost town . i was told the main reason was that the games were being televised for free but i kinda think it was the weak showing for Berlin , the team wasn't having their best season and really did not have much chance to win this tournament they were hosting . And the only reason  they were playing was because they were the hosts . The games were great and the fans were amazing ... 3000 European fans are way louder then 18000 Leafs fans LOL , seriously NHL fans should go to Europe watch a pro game and take notes on how to create an exciting atmosphere ! We were in the section where the JYP supporters were , they are a Finnish club . Everyone around us seemed to love us as Rainer was handing out free beers to everyone around LOL . It was a crazy night .... but i still have no equipment .

Next day we went to the Ritter Sport Shop and bought kilos of chocolate :P oh i love this stuff ! That wasn't the only thing we did . We went to Checkpoint Charlie and walked basically everywhere ... ate again at Vapiano where the whole Eisbaren Berlin team was eating , they seemed snobby and pretty much avoided being noticed by us . Ah well they played shit anyways LOL . 2 days of being drunk is catching up to me and i am threatening to stay sober the next night .... Rainer is already out of commission as he went hard the night before .... so he missed the next 2 games we went to watch at the near empty 02 World Arena . On this night we were watching Lulea vs. Djurgardens and Berlin vs. Frolunda ... both were really good games and yeah i said i wasn't gonna drink but i did . i drank a lot again , just no hard stuff ... no jaegermeister ! We met Bully the Bear , the mascot for the Berlin Eisbarens , and had a good night which ended with a kebab on the walk back home . The next day Timo was leaving us and had a long drive back to reality :) 

The last day we were there was the final for the tournament and finally my hockey bag arrived , very happy to know i don't have to buy more gear . That would have absolutely killed any future plans i have to travel . Wipe the sweat off my brow and carry on , i am not going to drink tonight . Timo is gone it is now myself , Kathleen and Rainer ... this is really Kathleen's fist crazy hockey trip and i am not sure if she can handle this but she knew what she was getting into when i was booking all this stuff i continuously reminded her ... so it shouldn't be a surprise that i am totally wasted pretty much all the time . Now i don't have the excuse that my bag is missing , its just hard to say no to good beer LOL ! As you can see in the pic above the fans are allowed to climb onto glass and chant stuff to get the crowd going ??? yeah security was waiting for him when he got down ! they gave him high 5's and congratulated him and showed him his seat ... no joke , this is Europe and fans show their passion ... i love it ! 

Had to do some more walking around , this time we wandered about with Rainer ... walked way too much then headed to the final game which was Farjestad vs. JYP ... Farjestad is a Swedish club and JYP is a Finnish club so you could expect some animosity . I wrote about this before , and unfortunately i still believe the refs were horrible and helped decide the game in favour of JYP . They deserved the win and the title but i felt the refs didn't do much to help Farjestad which took away from the game . It was a close game and all in all my experience going to this tournament was amazing . I hope that in the future they learn that organizing this tournament will take more effort to get the fans into the stadium instead of showing it for free on television or maybe this was just the wrong market for a tournament like this which had mostly Swedish clubs ... maybe doing it in Sweden will have the stands filled . I look forward to seeing what they do next year . I would highly suggest sports fans go to this event , it was a lot of fun ! 

The next day we had to leave , what a mess it was getting this rental car ! To make a long story short we really should have taken a train or a bus to Aalen from Berlin ... car rental was 135 Euros and gas was another 150 Euros for this gas guzzling vehicle !!! 285 Euros for 3 people to travel this distance is a bit extreme and to make things worse we got charged for it on our credit card after we paid Rainer for it ... so we paid double for the car ... Rainer you owe us a few Euros buddy LOL ! 

I will write about our next stop tomorrow ... it wasn't half as crazy as Berlin . What a great city , only problem is i have been there twice and still have yet to get on the ice there so i am going to have to go back .