Eisbären Berlin

Lore & Background

The club's origins go back to 1954, when SC Dynamo Berlin created an ice hockey section. SC Dynamo Berlin was part of the SV Dynamo sports association, the nationwide sports association of the Stasi, Volkspolizei, and customs. The team won its first East German title in 1966 and ultimately won the East German championship 15 times, the last coming in 1988. In 1990, following German reunification, the ice hockey department became independent as EHC Dynamo Berlin and was assigned to the 1. Bundesliga. The club was renamed EHC Eisbären Berlin in 1992 and introduced the polar bear logo, a reference to the bear on Berlin's coat of arms.

The Eisbären are a founding member of the DEL, created after the 1993–94 season. The Anschutz Entertainment Group acquired sole ownership in 1999, ensuring financial stability. The team won its first DEL championship in 2005, with help from NHL veterans such as Erik Cole, Nathan Dempsey, and Olaf Kölzig. The Eisbären have since won eleven DEL titles, including three straight from 2011 to 2013. The team's home games are played at the Uber Arena, which opened in 2008–09; the northern curved end is named the Hartmut Nickel Curve after the legendary SC Dynamo Berlin forward.

Reader's Guide

The Eisbären Berlin are notable as the most successful team in DEL history, holding the record for most DEL championships with eleven as of the 2024-25 season. Their success spans both the East German era, where they won 15 titles as SC Dynamo Berlin, and the post-reunification DEL era. The club's ability to transition from the East German system to become a dominant force in unified German hockey is a key part of its legacy. The team's popularity is reflected in its average home attendance of 12,052 in the 2016–17 season and its history of sellouts. The Eisbären have also achieved international success, winning the European Trophy in 2010 and finishing as runner-up in the IIHF Continental Cup in 1998 and 2000. The club's ownership by the Anschutz Entertainment Group has provided financial stability, allowing it to compete at the highest level. The team's identity is deeply tied to Berlin, with its polar bear logo and the Hartmut Nickel Curve honoring a club legend.

Did You Know?

• The Eisbären Berlin won the East German championship 15 times as SC Dynamo Berlin.
• The team's home arena, the Uber Arena, has a seating capacity of 14,200.
• The official team anthem 'Hey, wir wollen die Eisbären seh'n' was recorded by the East German band the Puhdys in 1997.
• The northern curved end of the Uber Arena is named the Hartmut Nickel Curve, after a legendary SC Dynamo Berlin forward.

From Junior Rink to NHL Threshold

Blake Parlett, a Canadian forward born in May 1989, carved out his early identity in the Ontario Hockey League, finishing his junior run as an overage player with the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors. His professional debut came with the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League during the 2010–11 campaign, where he split time between the AHL and their ECHL affiliate, the Greenville Road Warriors. That split season proved a highlight, as Parlett earned a starting role in the 2011 ECHL All-Star Game. The New York Rangers, parent club of the Wolf Pack, rewarded his progress with a two-year entry-level deal on June 2, 2011. Yet the NHL call-up that many young players chase never materialized. Over the next four seasons, Parlett cycled through the Connecticut Whale, the Springfield Falcons, the Providence Bruins, and the San Antonio Rampage, appearing in trade packages involving Marian Gaborik and Carter Camper. By June 2015, with the NHL door firmly shut, he turned his sights toward European ice.

A Berlin Breakthrough

In the summer of 2017, Parlett secured an optional two-year contract with Eisbären Berlin of the German Deutsche Eishockey Liga, marking a pivotal chapter in his overseas journey. The 2017–18 season became one of his most productive European stints: across 47 appearances, he tallied 17 points, contributing both offensively and as a reliable depth forward. More importantly, his efforts were part of a collective push that carried Berlin all the way to the DEL championship finals, the league's ultimate prize. That deep playoff run gave Parlett a taste of elite European competition and solidified his reputation as a dependable contributor in a high-pressure environment. Yet the very next offseason saw him depart Germany once again. On May 2, 2018, he signed a one-year contract with the Kunlun Red Star of the KHL, a Chinese-based franchise, continuing his pattern of seeking fresh opportunities across the continent's top leagues.

The European Odyssey

Parlett's post-NHL career reads like a map of continental hockey. After his initial foray into the KHL with Medveščak Zagreb in Croatia, a stint that ended in early February 2017, he quickly signed with Tappara of Finland's Liiga. His time in the Liiga was brief before the Eisbären opportunity arose, but it set the template for what would follow: a relentless circuit of top European leagues. After Kunlun Red Star in China, where he posted 4 goals and 10 points in 32 games during 2018–19, he returned to Germany in June 2019 to join EHC München. There, he appeared in 46 regular-season games, recording 2 goals and 9 points, before the post-season was abruptly cancelled by the COVID-19 pandemic. That disruption effectively ended his Munich chapter. In July 2020, he made a deliberate choice to return to a familiar club, re-signing with Tappara, demonstrating both loyalty to a system that had worked and the practical reality of a journeyman seeking stability in an uncertain market.

Beyond the Final Whistle

Today, Blake Parlett exists as a free agent, his last known club being HC Kosice of the Slovak Extraliga. Looking back across more than a decade of professional play, his career is defined less by a single marquee achievement and more by an extraordinary range of environments: the OHL, the AHL, the ECHL, the KHL, the DEL, and the Finnish Liiga. He never secured a sustained NHL role despite multiple entry-level and two-way contracts with the Rangers, Bruins, and Panthers. Yet in Europe, he found consistent minutes and meaningful contributions, most notably helping Eisbären Berlin reach the DEL finals in 2017–18. His story mirrors that of countless skilled players who, just short of the NHL's final roster spot, reinvent themselves across borders. Parlett's journeyman path—spanning Croatia, Finland, Germany, China, and Slovakia—testifies to the global reach of professional hockey and the resilience required to keep competing at a high level when the dream league remains just out of reach.