Bremerhaven

Bremerhaven had never reached a German championship final until the spring of 2024, when Fischtown Pinguins fell to Eisbären Berlin 1–4 — a run that ended in defeat but still marked the furthest the club had ever gone. Bundesliga title.

The team plays out of the Eisarena, known locally as the UberArena, which holds 4,674 — modest by DEL standards, loud enough that opponents notice. Red and white have stayed the club's colours since the REV years, and the Penguins nickname has followed the club through both incarnations.

Alexander Sulzer was a fixture of the German national team and now coaches the side he used to face. In the 2024–25 Champions Hockey League, they beat Skellefteå AIK in the round of sixteen before Genève-Servette HC ended their run in the quarter-finals — the first time a Bremerhaven side had reached that stage. The Nordderby against Grizzlys Wolfsburg remains a fixture at the Eisarena.

Between the two cup final appearances the club has managed — the 2007 DEB-Pokal loss to Adler Mannheim and the 2024 DEL final loss to Berlin — sits a gap of seventeen years.