Adler Mannheim

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Adler Mannheim
Adler Mannheim
Greatest successes
club information
story Mannheim ERC (1938–1994)
Adler Mannheim (since 1994)
parent club Mannheim ERC e. V
club colours blue White Red
league German ice hockey league
venue SAP arena
capacity 13,600 seats (of which 9,934 seats)
managing Director Matthias Binder, Daniel Hopp
head coach Pavel Gross
captain Denis Reul
Season 2020/21 1st Place South/Playoff Semifinals

The Adler Mannheim are a German ice hockey team from Mannheim , which has been playing in the German Ice Hockey League since 1994 and thus as a founding member . The professional team was outsourced in 1994 as a GmbH from the Mannheim ERC , which was founded in 1938. The parent club is still responsible for the amateur, women's and junior teams today. The owner of the gaming company is Daniel Hopp .

The club, which has played its home games in the 13,600-seat SAP Arena since 2005, has won a total of eight German championships , seven of them since the DEL was founded. The club colors of the Adler Mannheim are the Mannheim city ​​colors of blue, white and red.

story

Founding and discontinuation of gaming operations (1936 to 1943)

Former logo of the Mannheim ERC

At the instigation of Olympic rowing champion Hugo Strauss , a roller skating department was set up within the Mannheimer RC rowing club in 1936 . At first the game was played on different areas, until the club finally managed to get the Rhein-Neckar-Halle as a permanent venue in the spring of 1938. After the construction of the ice stadium at Friedrichspark , which had already opened in 1939 , 83 club members founded the Mannheim Ice and Roller Sports Club on May 19, 1938 , which took part in the qualification for the final round of the German championship in the first season in 1938/39 . In the first game in the club's history, the Mannheim team lost to the reigning German champions SC Riessersee on February 19 in front of 5,000 spectators in Friedrichspark .

From 1941 to 1943, the MERC reached the final round of the German championship without interruption and advanced to the semi-finals in 1942. Because of the Second World War , both SC Riessersee and EG Vienna could no longer field teams there, so Mannheim and LTTC Rot-Weiss Berlin reached the final without a fight. The game was canceled 24 hours before kick-off because the Reich Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels had declared total war in the Berlin Sportpalast . Nevertheless, the game operation was initially maintained in the following season. In the semi-finals, the Mannheim ERC was supposed to meet the Berliners again, but because of the war, the championship was finally canceled as in the previous year.

In June 1943, an air raid destroyed the stadium in Friedrichspark, whereupon ice hockey operations in Mannheim were suspended until the ice stadium was rebuilt in 1949.

New beginning and establishment in the ice hockey upper house (1949 to 1965)

season league main round final round
1953/54 LL BW 1st place –
1954/55 OIL 8th place –
1955/56 LL BW 1st place –
1956/57 OIL 2nd place 4th Place
1957/58 OIL 1st place 4th Place
1958/59 1st bl 3rd place –
1959/60 1st bl 5th place –
1960/61 1st bl 5th place –
1961/62 1st bl 6th place 7th place ↓
1962/63 1st bl 3rd place 3rd place ↑
1963/64 1st bl 7th place 6th place ↓
1964/65 1st bl 4th Place 3rd place ↑

↑ Championship round ↓ Relegation round

After the Second World War, the MERC again played friendly matches against other teams from the region and soldier selections in 1949. From 1951, the team took part in the regular game operations of the Landesliga Württemberg again and in 1954, as champions under the leadership of player -coach Kurt Kurz , they achieved promotion to what was then the top division, the Ice Hockey Oberliga . However, with just one point gain and, among other things, a 1:22 defeat against Krefelder EV , the club was relegated from the Oberliga in 1955 . After another year in the second division, the Mannheim ERC was able to celebrate direct resurgence and established itself permanently in the highest German ice hockey league with a fourth place in the 1956/57 season .

In 1958 the MERC became one of the founding members of the Eishockey-Bundesliga . Although the Bavarian superiority of clubs such as EV Füssen , SC Riessersee and EC Bad Tölz could not be broken at this time, the team still managed to achieve respectable third places in the seasons 1958/59 , 1962/63 and 1964/65 .

Decline and resurgence (1965 to 1978)

season league main round final round
1965/66 1st bl 5th place 4th place ↑
1966/67 1st bl 2nd place 6th place ↑
1967/68 1st bl 3rd place 5th place ↑
1968/69 1st bl 3rd place 4th place ↑
1969/70 1st bl 9th place 2nd place ↓
1970/71 1st bl 10th place –
1971/72 OIL 4th Place –
1972/73 OIL 3rd place –
1973/74 2nd bl 2nd place –
1974/75 2nd bl 3rd place –
1974/75 2nd bl 5th place –
1974/75 2nd bl 4th Place –
1977/78 2nd bl 2nd place –

↑ Championship round ↓ Relegation round

In the mid-1960s, the Mannheim ERC was unable to develop further in sport, had to play against relegation for the first time in 1970 and finally managed to narrowly avoid relegation with tenth place in the final billing. In the 1970/71 season , the team was only able to win three season games, which resulted in a decline in the number of spectators to just 300 visitors and at the end of the season resulted in relegation to the then second-rate Oberliga . Due to numerous departures, the MERC had to compete with only nine players in the first league season and ended up finishing fourth. In the years that followed, the club made it into the top five teams, just like in the second ice hockey league founded in 1973, but without being promoted again.

In 1976, the art skating , speed skating and curling departments separated from the ice hockey department and formed the Mannheim ERC KSE from then on . At the same time, future champion coach Heinz Weisenbach took over the ice hockey department and began building a new, more competitive team that would seriously play for promotion over the next two years, finally gaining it in 1978 thanks to a second-place finish and the increase in the Bundesliga from was able to achieve ten to twelve clubs.

Successful years in the Bundesliga (1978 to 1990)

season league main round final round playoffs
1978/79 1st bl 4th Place 6th place –
1979/80 1st bl 2nd place 1st place master
1980/81 1st bl 3rd place – 3rd place
1981/82 1st bl 3rd place – final
1982/83 1st bl 2nd place – final
1983/84 1st bl 1st place – 3rd place
1984/85 1st bl 3rd place – final
1985/86 1st bl 7th place – Quarterfinals
1986/87 1st bl 4th Place – final
1987/88 1st bl 3rd place – 3rd place
1988/89 1st bl 3rd place – semifinals
1989/90 1st bl 7th place – Quarterfinals

In order to be able to set up a Bundesliga team with the limited budget, coach Weisenbach went new ways. He traveled to North America to look specifically for players with German roots. With Harold Kreis , Manfred Wolf , Roy Roedger and Peter Ascherl , the first “German-Canadians” finally switched to the Bundesliga. The commitment of national goalkeeper Erich Weishaupt also caused a sensation. Although duly committed by the Berlin ice skating club, the MERC only received the player pass after the official transfer deadline due to internal quarrels between Berliner SC and the upstream Eissport Berlin KG and Eishockey Berlin KG, so that the German Ice Hockey Federation on November 8th received all the points earned up to that point wanted to deny. Mannheim and SB Rosenheim, who were also affected by another player, then went to court and won against the association.

After finishing sixth in the debut season, the Mannheimers achieved their greatest success in the club's history in 1980 . Even before the season the team was strengthened with Ron Andruff and Holger Meitinger as well as the homegrown Mannheim players Marcus Kuhl (from Cologne) and Peter Obresa (from Bad Nauheim), who had matured abroad to become national players. In a complicated format, consisting of preliminary round, intermediate round and championship round, the team showed the greatest perseverance and finally won the German championship for the first time . The title win was made perfect in the penultimate game with a win in Berlin, so that the Mannheim players warmed up in tails and top hats before the start of the last, now meaningless home game against Cologne EC .

As previously agreed, champion coach Weisenbach left Mannheim and was replaced by the Czech Ladislav Olejník , who would shape the team for most of the decade. However, the budget was so small at that time that the team was usually not broad enough. In the 1981/82 season there were only four defenders available, so that the team was not competitive in terms of personnel or fitness in the crucial games at the end of the season.

MERC flag from 1989

In 1981 , when the championship was held for the first time according to the play-off system, a third place was achieved right away. The following year , the MERC even advanced to the final, where it had to admit defeat to SB Rosenheim . In 1983 the team again became German runners-up after losing to EV Landshut in the final . In the next season , the MERC won the main round for the first time in its history, but then dropped out in the semifinals and ended up third. In 1985 , the club entered the play-off final for the third time in four years, in which SB Rosenheim once again won the better end.

The following year Olejník moved to Rosenheim. In addition, the departures of Manfred Wolf, Roy Roedger and Andreas Niederberger could never be compensated by the now very young team, so that President and financier Helmut Müller announced his resignation after ten successful years and the team was eliminated in the quarter-finals. The association was without a chairman for almost half a year, until the then Mannheim City Councilor Lothar Mark finally took over the office. It was a very difficult time with many risks, as there were only a few players under contract, no coach was hired and the club had to cope with a high debt burden, which, however, was halved within 4 years. Coach Olejník was brought back to the gang in Mannheim by Lothar Mark, and success soon followed. The Mannheim ERC made it to the final again in 1986/87 and only lost there to the Cologne EC. In the following season they met Domstädter in the semi-finals, but the revenge did not succeed and the MERC ended up third. In 1989 , the team lost again in the match for third place against the KEC and finished fourth. Lothar Mark was elected sports mayor of the city of Mannheim at the end of 1987 and therefore gave up his presidency.

season league main round playoffs
1990/91 1st bl 5th place Quarterfinals
1991/92 1st bl 6th place semifinals
1992/93 1st bl 5th place semifinals
1993/94 1st bl 7th place Quarterfinals
1994/95 DEL 3rd place Quarterfinals
1995/96 DEL 6th place Quarterfinals

Threatened bankruptcy and foundation of the DEL (1990 to 1996)

At the beginning of the new decade, Ladislav Olejník finally left the Mannheim ERC, which in the following years was only able to place between fifth and seventh place. In the subsequent play-offs, the team was eliminated in the quarter-finals in 1990 , 1991 and 1994 , but in 1992 and 1993 they managed to reach the semi-finals.

In the spring of 1994, ice hockey in Mannheim was on the brink of collapse because the club's debts had risen to eight million DM. The crisis could only be overcome because the players waived up to 30 percent of their salaries and the most expensive stars like Jiří Lála and Peter Draisaitl were given to other clubs. After the end of the 1993/94 season , a new elite league was founded with the German Ice Hockey League . In order to meet the demands of professional ice hockey, the first team of the MERC was outsourced to the new Die Adler Mannheim Eishockey Spielbetriebs GmbH + Co. KG and has been playing under the name Adler Mannheim in the DEL ever since.

In the very first DEL season , the young Adler team achieved third place in the preliminary round, but lost in the quarter-finals to eventual champions Kölner Haie. In 1996 , the team then finished only sixth in the preliminary round and was eliminated again in the quarter-finals.

Rise to temporary DEL record champion (from 1996)

season league main round final round playoffs
1996/97 DEL 2nd place 1st place master
1997/98 DEL 1st place 4th Place master
1998/99 DEL 3rd place – master
1999/00 DEL 5th place – Quarterfinals
2000/01 DEL 1st place – master
2001/02 DEL 2nd place – final
2002/03 DEL 4th Place – semifinals
2003/04 DEL 6th place – Quarterfinals
2004/05 DEL 6th place – final

In the meantime, the Bosman ruling had been made , according to which EU citizens were free to choose their club without transfer fees and without regulating the number of foreigners. The Mannheim management reacted very quickly and signed players from France, Austria, Italy and Belgium. The reinforcements hit immediately and in the 1996/97 season the preliminary round was completed just behind Cologne in second place. The Haie were even overtaken in the championship round, and in the following play-offs the Adler won their second German championship with three sweeps , i.e. without losing a single game, and the first since the DEL was founded. The only player in the 1980 championship team was captain Harold Kreis , who then ended his playing career.

A year later the title was successfully defended. After the preliminary round was won by the team, the championship round could only be completed in fourth place. In the play-offs, however, the team only lost one game in the final series against the Eisbären Berlin . With the second title, the eagles rose to become the record champions of the young division, and Mannheim's Philippe Bozon was also named DEL player of the year. During the summer break, the club's economic problems became apparent, which could be overcome by the entry of SAP co-founder Dietmar Hopp . The Eagles initially finished the main round of the 1998/99 season in third place, albeit a long way behind the first-placed Nuremberg Ice Tigers . These two teams finally faced each other in the play-off final, which the Mannheim team won 3-2 games, thereby celebrating their third championship in a row.

During the warm-up against the Kölner Haie in 2005
Face- off against Kassel in 2006

The next season was a year of upheaval. Master trainer Lance Nethery , like some of the top performers of previous years, had left Mannheim and was succeeded by Canadian Chris Valentine . In the end, the team was eliminated in the quarter-finals, the only ray of hope from the point of view of the MERC was Jan Alston , who became the top scorer in the German Ice Hockey League with 74 points . With a team that had changed in many positions and the new coach Bill Stewart , the Adler won the preliminary round of the 2000/01 season with a new DEL record of 115 points from 60 games and brought the fifth championship title to Mannheim at the end of the season.

In the summer of 2001, the parent club Mannheimer ERC had to file for insolvency and was dissolved. The Mannheimer ERC KSE then changed its name to Mannheimer ERC e. V. and founded the Mannheimer ERC Eishockey-Spielbetrieb e. V. a successor in the field of ice hockey. In the 2001/02 season , however, the professional team once again advanced to the final, in which the team lost 2:3 to the Kölner Haie. In 2003 , the Eagles failed again in the semifinals against the Sharks, but won the newly created German Ice Hockey Cup for the first time . The following year , the team finished only sixth after the preliminary round and was already defeated in the quarterfinals by the Hamburg Freezers .

For the 2004/05 season , the team reinforced by the lockout in the National Hockey League in addition with the two German NHL players Jochen Hecht and Sven Butenschoen and the French national goalkeeper Cristobal Huet and defenders Andy Delmore and Yannick Tremblay . Nevertheless, only sixth place was achieved in the main round. Nevertheless, the Adler reached the play-off final, but lost there in three games against the Eisbären Berlin .

Move to the SAP Arena, fifth title and end of the record championship (2005 to 2012)

The team started the 2005/06 season with a league-wide budget record of eight million euros. In addition, the newly built SAP Arena , one of the most modern multifunctional venues in Europe, was occupied and replaced the Friedrichspark. After the main round, the eagles found themselves only in tenth place in the table, so that the play-offs took place for the first time since their introduction to German ice hockey in 1981 without the Mannheim ERC. Although the team again reached the final of the German Ice Hockey Cup, here, however, they lost to the DEG Metro Stars from Düsseldorf . Despite the sportingly poor performance in the championship, the average number of spectators per game increased from 5,918 to 11,056 and thus almost doubled. This cut also meant the fourth-highest viewer rating in Europe.

season league main round playoffs
2005/06 DEL 10th place –
2006/07 DEL 1st place master
2007/08 DEL 6th place Quarterfinals
2008/09 DEL 4th Place semifinals
2009/10 DEL 9th place pre-playoffs
2010/11 DEL 7th place Quarterfinals
2011/12 DEL 4th Place final

In the 2006/07 season , after a superior first round, the team secured their sixth championship title in the club's history by beating the Sinupret Ice Tigers in the final, and their second DEB Cup win against the Kölner Haie. This made the Eagles the first team since the DEL was founded to win the double of championship and cup. With 12,688 visitors per main round match, audience attendance also set a new record and was also the third-highest average in Europe. After a preliminary round that was largely disappointing, on March 22, 2008, the Adler Mannheim and the Kölner Haie set the record for the longest game in European ice hockey history. In the third play-off quarterfinal game in the KölnArena , both teams were on the ice for 168:16 minutes until the game ended with a 5:4 winning goal from Cologne's Philip Gogulla . This match is the second longest worldwide, only one NHL game from 1936 lasted longer. In the end, however, the Eagles clearly lost the series with 1:4.

Marcus Kink at face-off 2012

In the following year , the team was on the play-off course for a long time in the main round, but then started a negative series at the end of the regular season, which resulted in the dismissal of the previous coach Dave King . After the Eagles had only reached the playoffs in fourth place, the Sinupret Ice Tigers , against whom the team had not been able to win any of the four meetings in the main round, were beaten 4:1 games. In the semifinals, however, they lost four games against Eisbären Berlin . In the following season , the sporting downward trend continued. After the Eagles started the season promisingly, the team only finished ninth and thus reached the pre-play-offs. Like his predecessor Dave King , the new coach Doug Mason was released early during the main round and replaced on an interim basis by the previous assistant coach Teal Fowler . In the pre-play-offs, the Eagles were eliminated in two games against the Augsburger Panthers , after which five players had their contracts terminated in order to gain new scope in the squad composition. In addition, the Mannheim ice hockey legend Harold Kreis was hired as a coach.

In 2010/11 , the team finished seventh after the preliminary round and was eliminated in the play-offs in the quarter-finals against the DEG Metro Stars. In 2011/12 the eagles were able to build on earlier successes. After being at the top of the table for a long time in autumn, they finished fourth in the preliminary round. The final was reached in the play-offs, where the two DEL record champions met – both Mannheim and Eisbären Berlin had won the DEL championship five times up to that point. In the fourth game of the final series, the Eagles were already leading 5:2 in the last third in the home SAP Arena and looked like the safe German champions. However, Berlin managed to turn the game around in extra time and force a crucial fifth game, which they also won, leaving the Eagles only with the German Vice Championship. With the title win in 2012, the Eisbären Berlin became the new record champions of the DEL. They were able to further consolidate this status in the following season by defending their title.

Club anniversary, another change of coach and the seventh title (2012–2018)

During the 2012/2013 season , Dennis Seidenberg ( Boston Bruins ), Jochen Hecht , Jason Pominville (both Buffalo Sabers ) and Marcel Goc ( Florida Panthers ) switched to the Adler Mannheim due to the NHL lockout . The Eagles finished the regular season in first place. The team went into the playoffs as favorites, where they met Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg in the quarterfinals . The Lower Saxony surprisingly determined the series and finally won it with 4:2 victories.

season league main round playoffs
2012/13 DEL 1st place Quarterfinals
2013/14 DEL 4th Place Quarterfinals
2014/15 DEL 1st place master
2015/16 DEL 10th place pre-playoffs
2016/17 DEL 2nd place Quarterfinals
2017/18 DEL 5th place semifinals
2018/19 DEL 1st place master
2019/20 DEL 2nd place season cancellation
2020/21 DEL 1st group south semifinals

On May 19, 2013, the parent club MERC celebrated its 75th anniversary. In this context, a special exhibition titled "75 Years of Ice Hockey City Mannheim" was held in the Mannheim Reiss-Engelhorn Museums during the current 2012/2013 season between November 25, 2012 and March 31, 2013. In addition to the publication of an associated exhibition catalogue, the club organized additional events such as guided tours through the exhibition with former players and autograph sessions.

Promotional poster for the 2015 championship

After three mixed seasons, Adler Mannheim and Harold Kreis parted ways on December 31, 2013 during the current 2013/2014 season after a series of losses. Kreis' successor was Hans Zach . After the eagles finished the preliminary round in 4th place, they failed in the quarter-finals of the playoffs against the Kölner Haien , who won the series 4:1. After being eliminated in the quarter-finals against the Kölner Haie, Hans Zach announced his definitive return to retirement. Zach's replacement, Geoff Ward , was unveiled at a press conference on June 19, 2014 and signed a 3-year deal.

Choreography for the first home game of the 2016/17 season

Mannheim clearly won the main round of the 2014/2015 season with a nine-point lead over second-placed EHC Red Bull Munich . In the play-offs, the Adler clearly won 4:1 in the quarter-finals against the Nuremberg Ice Tigers . The Adler Mannheim won the semi-final against Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg 4-0. The novelty was that the Eagles were able to catch up from a 0:3 deficit in three of the games and turn into a win. In the final, Mannheim finally met ERC Ingolstadt . Although Ingolstadt clearly won the third game in the Mannheim SAP Arena with 1:6 and thus took a 2:1 lead in the final series, the Eagles were able to turn the series around and won the remaining final games. With 4:2 victories, the Adler Mannheim became German champions for the seventh time.

After the departure of master coach Geoff Ward, the 2015/16 season was marked by extremely mixed phases. Longer winning streaks alternated with losing streaks - the team twice achieved eight defeats in a row and thus the longest losing streak in the DEL history of the team and the longest of the MERC since the Bundesliga season 1970/71 , in which the team had 30 defeats in suffered consequence. In February, the Eagles parted ways with head coach Greg Ireland , who had only been introduced as Geoff Ward's successor at the start of the season. Ireland's assistant coach Craig Woodcroft was appointed as the new head coach. The main round in 2015/16 finally ended in 10th place. In the following pre-playoffs against the Kölner Haie, the team lost 2-1 in the series.

In May 2016, Canadian Sean Simpson was hired as the new head coach. "Sean's successes speak for themselves: He became champion in Germany and Switzerland, won the Victoria Cup and the Spengler Cup and led the Swiss national team to the silver medal at the 2013 World Championships," said Managing Director Hopp at the presentation. The main round of the 2016/17 season ended under Simpson in second place behind Munich, in the quarter-final series against the Eisbären Berlin the Adler lost in the seventh game after overtime. Overall, Sean Simpson failed to live up to expectations.

In early December 2017, head coach Simpson, his assistant Colin Muller and manager Teal Fowler were fired. "After the disappointing performances and the recent results, we feel obliged to make a fresh start in the area of ​​​​sporting leadership," Managing Director Daniel Hopp was quoted as saying in view of this three-person dismissal. At that point, the Eagles were seventh in the table. As the new head coach until the end of the season Bill Stewart was committed, who had already acted as head coach of the Eagles from 2000 to 2004.

Sporting realignment in 2018 and the eighth championship

At the end of February 2018, the Eagles announced the commitment of Swede Jan-Axel Alavaara as sports manager from July 1, 2018. At the beginning of the 2018/19 season, Pavel Gross took up his post as head coach at Adler Mannheim. Mike Pellegrims and Pertti Hasanen were hired as assistant coaches, and Benedikt Weichert and Rostislav Haas as goalkeeper coaches.

The Eagles finished the 2018/19 main round in first place in the table with a point average of 2.23, the highest value in DEL history. After the successful main round, Mannheim went into the championship round as favorites and fulfilled expectations: With victories against the Thoma Sabo Ice Tigers in the quarter-finals and against the Kölner Haie in the semi-finals (with a 4-0 sweep), the Adler reached the series of finals against the EHC Red Bull Munich . After an opening defeat, the team won all of the following four games against the EHC and won the eighth German championship in the club's history in the fifth encounter with a goal in extra time by Thomas Larkin . Adler goalkeeper Dennis Endras was named Most Valuable Player of the Final Series and Joonas Lehtivuori was named DEL Defender of the Year. 18-year-old junior defender Moritz Seider received the award for Rookie of the Year .

At the beginning of the 2019/20 season, the Adler found it difficult to consistently achieve good results. Clear victories and clear defeats alternated - at the same time, the EHC Red Bull Munich sat down at the top of the table. It was not until the end of the year that the Adler found their way back to consistency and won ten games in a row. On the last day of the game, the Adler secured second place in the table with a 4-0 home win against the Schwenninger Wild Wings. The Adler's top scorer was Borna Rendulić with 49 points from 50 games . In addition, "super talent" Tim Stützle convinced various NHL scouts with 34 points from 41 games; six months later he was selected number 3 by the Ottawa Senators in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft .

The DEL season was canceled during the pre-playoffs due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany . The following season also had to be postponed several times due to the increasing number of infections and the resulting corona regulations . The DEL winter game planned for January 9, 2021 between the Kölner Haie and the Adler Mannheim was canceled due to the Corona-related shortened winter break in the Bundesliga and the lack of planning security. In November 2021 it was announced that seven Adler players and coach Pavel Gross had tested positive for Covid-19.

team

Squad of the 2021/22 season

As of September 14, 2021

No. nat. player position birth date in the team since place of birth
90 Germany Felix Brueckmann G December 16, 1990 2020 Breisach , Germany
44 Germany Dennis Endras G July 14, 1985 2012 Immenstadt , Germany
7 Germany Sinan Akdag D November 5, 1989 2014 Rosenheim , Germany
4 Germany Corbinian Holzer D February 16, 1988 2021 Munich , Germany
95 Mark Katic D May 9, 1989 2018 Porcupines , Ontario , Canada
37 Thomas Larkin D December 31, 1990 2017 London , United Kingdom
6 Finland Joonas Lehtivuori D July 19, 1988 2018 Pirkkala , Finland
11 Finland Ilari Melart D February 11, 1989 2021 Helsinki , Finland
92 Germany Philip Preto D April 2, 2001 2021 Speyer , Germany
29 Germany Denis Reul -  A D June 29, 1989 2009 Marktredwitz , Germany
70 Germany Moritz Wirth D June 10, 1999 2020 Frankfurt am Main
39 Jason Bast C June 2, 1989 2020 Regina , Saskatchewan , Canada
19 Germany lean miner Lw October 4, 1998 2021 Hemer , Germany
9 Canada Kazakhstan Nigel Dawes Lw February 9, 1985 2021 Winnipeg , Manitoba , Canada
84 Canada Andrew Desjardins C July 27, 1986 2017 Lively (Ontario) , Ontario , Canada
16 Germany Markus Eisenschmid C January 22, 1995 2018 Marktoberdorf , Germany
77 Germany Florian Elias C April 7, 2002 2020 Augsburg , Germany
43 Russia Ruslan Ishakov C July 22, 2000 2021 Moscow , Russia
40 Germany Valentino Klos f February 1, 2000 2019 Kaiserslautern , Germany
21 Germany Nicolas Kramer RW October 23, 1992 2018 Landshut , Germany
22 Germany Matthew Plachta Lw May 16, 1991 2016 Freiburg im Breisgau , Germany
71 Croatia Borna Rendulić RW March 25, 1992 2021 Zagreb , Croatia
14 Canada Jordan Schwarz RW May 14, 1991 2021 Burlington , Ontario , Canada
96 Germany Simon Thiel Lw April 4, 2001 2020 Mannheim , Germany
18 Germany Luca Tosto f November 18, 2000 2021 Bad Toelz , Germany
33 Germany Tim Wohlgemuth Lw July 22, 1999 2021 Landsberg am Lech , Germany
89 Germany David Wolf Lw September 15, 1989 2015 Dusseldorf , Germany

coaching staff

task Surname birth date In the team since place of birth
head coach Czech Republic-Germany Pavel Gross May 11, 1968 2018 Ústí nad Labem , Czechoslovakia
assistant coach Belgium Mike Pellegrims April 1, 1968 2018 Antwerp ,  Belgium
development coach Germany Marcel Goc Aug. 24, 1983 2020 Calw , Germany
Goalkeeping Coach Finland Peter Vehanen October 9, 1977 2021 Rauma ,  Finland

Pictures of current players

Significant past teams

German Champion 1980

Championship banner in the SAP Arena
position Surname
Goal: Erich Weishaupt , Joachim Casper
Defense: Harold Kreis , Werner Jahn , Brent Meeke , Boguslav Malinowski , Norbert Mundo
Storm: Marcus Kuhl , Ron Andruff , Holger Meitinger , Peter Obresa , Manfred Wolf , Dan Djakalovic , Peter Ascherl , Elias Vorlicek , Klaus Mangold , Jürgen Adams , Jörg Etz , Roy Roedger
Trainer: Heinz Weisenbach

German Champion 1997

position Surname
Goal: Joachim Appel , Mike Rosati
Defense: Harold Kreis , Paul Stanton , Christian Lukes , Robert Nardella , Alexander Erdmann , Stephane Richer , Martin Ulrich , Mike Pellegrims
Storm: Steve Thornton , Mario Gehrig , Pavel Gross , Dave Tomlinson , Daniel Körber , Robert Cimetta , François Guay , Jochen Hecht , Florian Keller , Till Feser , Philippe Bozon , Tommie Hartogs , Alexander Serikow , Christian Pouget , Dieter Kalt , Paul Beraldo
Trainer: Lance Nethery

German Champion 1998

position Surname
Goal: Klaus Merk , Mike Rosati , Christian Künast
Defense: Gordon Hynes , Paul Stanton , Christian Lukes , Mike Posma , Christopher Felix , Stephane Richer , Martin Ulrich , Mike Pellegrims , Alexander Erdmann
Storm: Mario Gehrig , Pavel Gross , Dave Tomlinson , Philippe Bozon , Rob Cimetta , François Guay , Jochen Hecht , Ole Dahlstrom , Mike Hudson , Alexander Serikow , Christian Pouget , Ron Pasco , Daniel Marois , Dieter Kalt
Trainer: Lance Nethery

German Champion 1999

position Surname
Goal: Sven Rampf , Pavel Cagaš , Danny Lorenz , Helmut de Raaf
Defense: Gordon Hynes , Paul Stanton , Reid Simonton , Christian Lukes , Denis Perez , Stephane Richer , Mike Pellegrims , Michael De Angelis
Storm: Pavel Gross , Dave Tomlinson , Philippe Bozon , Kevin Miehm , Jason Young , Ron Pasco , Mike Hudson , Alexander Serikow , Christian Pouget , Mike Stevens , Philip Schumacher , Jan Alston , Jackson Penney
Trainer: Lance Nethery

German Champion 2001

position Surname
Goal: Mike Rosati , Robert Muller , Helmut de Raaf
Defense: Bradley Bergen , Andy Roach , Christian Lukes , François Groleau , Stephane Richer , Yves Racine , Dennis Seidenberg , Gordon Hynes , Michael Bakos
Storm: Mark Etz , Dave Tomlinson , Steve Junker , Wayne Hynes , Devin Edgerton , Ron Pasco , Mark Pederson , Georg Hessel , Todd Hlushko , Mike Stevens , Jan Alston , Jean-François Jomphe , Daniel Hilpert , Chris Straube , Jackson Penney
Trainer: Bill Stewart
The team at the championship celebration 2006/07

German Champion 2007

position Surname
Goal: Jean-Marc Pelletier , Ilpo Kauhanen , Danny from the Birches , Robert Müller
Defense: Blake Sloan , Sven Butenschoen , Pascal Trépanier , François Bouchard , Martin Ančička , Felix Petermann , Stephan Retzer
Storm: Nathan Robinson , Eduard Lewandowski , Jason Jaspers , Tomáš Martinec , Christoph Ullmann , René Corbet , Colin Forbes , Rico Fata , Jeff Shantz , François Méthot , Ronny Arendt , Marcus Kink , Rick Girard , Fabio Carciola , Sachar Blank
Trainer: Greg Poss (Head Coach) , Teal Fowler (Assistant Coach)

German champion 2015

position Surname
Goal: Dennis Endras , Youri Ziffzer
Defense: Sinan Akdağ , Dominik Bittner , Christopher Fischer , Kurtis Foster , Nikolai Goc , Bobby Raymond , Denis Reul , Danny Richmond , Steve Wagner
Storm: Ronny Arendt , Martin Buchwieser , Jochen Hecht , Mirko Höfflin , Kai Hospelt , Andrew Joudrey , Marcus Kink , Frank Mauer , Glen Metropolitan , Matthias Plachta , Jon Rheault , Jamie Tardif , Christoph Ullmann , Brandon Yip
Trainer: Geoff Ward (Head Coach) , Jay Leach (Assistant Coach) , Craig Woodcroft (Assistant Coach) , Brian Daccord (Goalkeeping Coach)

German champion 2019

position Surname
Goal: Dennis Endras , Chet Pickard
Defense: Sinan Akdağ , Mark Katic , Cody Lampl , Joonas Lehtivuori , Thomas Larkin , Brendan Mikkelson , Janik Möser , Denis Reul , Moritz Seider
Storm: Luke Adam , Tim Bernhardt , Andrew Desjardins , Markus Eisenschmid , Garret Festerling , Marcel Goc , Tommi Huhtala , Phil Hungerecker , Marcus Kink , Chad Kolarik , Nicolas Kraemmer , Alex Lambacher , Matthias Plachta , Brent Raedeke , Ben Smith , David Wolf
Trainer: Pavel Gross (Head Coach) , Mike Pellegrims (Assistant Coach) , Pertti Hasanen (Assistant Coach) , Benedikt Weichert (Goalkeeping Coach) , Rostislav Haas (Goalkeeping Coach)

Pictures of former players (German champions)

player

Blocked jersey numbers

So far, eight players have had their shirt numbers "blocked" because of their service to the club, meaning they are no longer given to active players. To commemorate the winners, banners with the corresponding numbers were placed under the roof of the SAP Arena.

Germany Werner Lorenz
(defense, 1956–1964) 		German Canadian Harold Kreis
(defense, 1978–1997, coach 2010–2013) 		Germany Kurt Sepp
(forward, 1956–1967, coach 1967/1968)
number 2 As the youngest Mannheim goalscorer, the native of Ludwigshafen scored his first goal in 1954 at the age of 17 years and 25 days. In his 750 games for the MERC, he witnessed the founding of the ice hockey league in 1958 and the establishment of the club in the top league. Banned number 3 banner in SAP arena Born in Canada, he played for Mannheimer ERC and Adler Mannheim from 1978 to 1997 and was German champion with the team in 1980 and 1997 . At MERC, Kreis was team captain for many years and also became a German international in Mannheim . After ending his career, Kreis worked as an assistant coach at the Adler from 1997 to 2000 and was head coach at the Adler Mannheim from 2010 to the end of 2013. number 10 Born in 1935 in what was then the ice hockey stronghold of Füssen , Kurt Sepp joined MERC in 1957. In his ten years as a player in Mannheim, he scored 115 goals for his club in the Ober- and Bundesliga. In the 1967/68 season he continued his work as a coach. He is a member of the Germany Hall of Fame .
Germany Bruno Guttowski
(defense, 1955–1964, coach 1955–56, 1959–1961, 1969–1972) 		Germany Marcus Kuhl
(Sturm, 1979-1982, 1985-1991) 		Canada René Corbet
(Forward, 2001–2009)
number 12 A year after he became German champion with Krefeld in Mannheim, Bruno Guttowski came to MERC. One of the best defenders of the time, he scored 71 goals for the MERC in eight seasons. When he scored his last goal, he was 39 years, one month and 28 days old, making him the oldest goalscorer in Mannheim ice hockey. Only during and later after his active playing time did he train the MERC. Guttowski, who died at the age of 52, is a member of the Germany Hall of Fame . Banned number 15 banner in SAP arena Kuhl played for the Mannheim ERC from 1979 to 1982 and after a three-year stint at Cologne EC from 1985 to 1991 and won the German championship with the team in 1980 . The winger also wore the jersey of the German national team 160 times . Kuhl has been a manager in Mannheim since 1994 and won five German championship titles with the Eagles during this time. Banned number 20 banner in SAP arena The Canadian wore the jersey of the Adler Mannheim from 2001 to 2009 and during this time he celebrated the German championships in 2007 and the cup wins in 2003 and 2007. In the National Hockey League, Corbet played for the Calgary Flames, the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Colorado Avalanche where he won the Stanley Cup in 1996. After nine years, the longtime captain left the Mannheim team.
Canada Stéphane Richer
(defense, 1995–2002) 		Germany Robert Muller
(goal, 2000–2002, 2006–2007) 		Germany Jochen Hecht
(storm, 1994-1998, 2004-2005, 2012-2013, 2013-2016)
Banned number 25 banner in SAP arena In 1995 the Canadian moved from the NHL to the Adlern Mannheim, for whom he was on the ice until 2002 and with whom he won four German championships in 1997 , 1998 , 1999 and 2001 . After the end of his active career, Richer worked from 2004 to 2005 as a head coach in Mannheim and failed with the Adler only in the play-off final at the Eisbären Berlin . Banned number 80 banner in SAP arena Müller was in goal for the Eagles between 2000 and 2002 and from 2006 to 2007. During this time he won two of his three championships and in 2007 the DEB Cup. Other DEL stations of the goalkeeper were the Starbulls Rosenheim, the Krefeld Penguins, the Foxes Duisburg and the Cologne Sharks. In addition, Müller competed with the national team in two Olympic Games and nine world championships. number 55 Jochen Hecht came from the Mannheim youth team and was German champion in 1997 and 1998 before moving to the NHL. During the lockout he was back in Mannheim in 2004/05 and became German Vice Champion. In 2013 he returned to Germany and was German champion again in 2015 with Mannheim.
Germany Ronny Arendt
(forward, 2005–2017)
number 57 Ronny Arendt played in Mannheim for twelve years. In 2007 and 2015 he became German champion and in 2007 he won the cup.

Members of the Hockey Hall of Fame Germany

The "Hall of Fame" of the German Ice Hockey Museum includes personalities who have rendered outstanding service to the sport of ice hockey in Germany. The actors included worked in Mannheim (team affiliation and position in brackets):

Bell coached various Swiss and German ice hockey clubs in the 1930s and 1940s. In addition, the Canadian was a trainer for the German national team from 1936 to 1939.
Demmer took part in the 1936 and 1948 Winter Olympics with the Austrian national team and also played at club level in Germany.
The 146-time German national player was born in the Czech Republic and played for MERC from 1983 to 1990 and from 1992 to 1994, but was only able to become runner-up twice during this time. The striker won his first and only German championship title in the 1994/95 season with the Kölner Haie.
Feistritzer took part in the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz with the Austrian national team and went on the ice in Germany for many years.
Guttowski played in the German Oberliga in the 1950s and was German champion with Krefeld EV in the 1951/52 season. In the Mannheimer ERC squad, the defender ended the 1958/59 season with 6 goals as the second most dangerous defender in the league.
Hock played for the Mannheim Adlers in the 2003/2004 season and scored 42 points for the Adler that season. Across all leagues, Hock holds the record as the player with the most assists in the DEL with 537 assists in 888 games for Oberhausen, Cologne, Mannheim, Hanover and Iserlohn.
The attacker played continuously from 1978 to 1998 in the top German division, including in the years 1986 to 1988 at the Mannheim ERC. With the German national team, Holzmann took part in two Olympic Games and seven World Championships. He then worked as a coach for various second division teams
Hoppe completed one season in the Quadratestadt jersey and played from 1979 for Berliner SC and Schwenninger ERC in the Ice Hockey Bundesliga and in the DEL. In addition, the goalkeeper is a former German international.
  • German Canadian Harold Kreis
    (1978–1997 defense, 1997–2000 assistant coach), 2010–2013 (coach)
The longtime team captain played for Mannheimer ERC and Adler Mannheim from 1978 to 1997 and was German champion with the team in 1980 and 1997. After ending his career, the former German international worked as an assistant coach at the Adler from 1997 to 2000 and as head coach from 2010 to the end of 2013.
  • Germany Marcus Kuhl
    (1979–1982, 1985–1991, striker, manager since 1994)
The winger won the German championship with the Mannheim ERC in 1980 and also wore the jersey of the German national team 160 times. Kuhl has been a manager in Mannheim since 1994 and won five German championship titles with the Eagles during this time.
The goalkeeper moved from the Starbulls Rosenheim to Mannheim in 2000, where he became German champion for the first time in 2001. Müller was able to repeat this success in 2003 with the Krefeld Penguins and again in 2007 with the Eagles, and he was also elected to the DEL All-Star Team four times.
Niederberger was voted "Newcomer of the Year 1983" in the Ice Hockey Bundesliga wearing the MERC jersey. In the course of his career, the attacker won a total of five German championship titles and took part in four Olympic Games and ten world championships with the national team.
Olejník led the Mannheim ERC to four German vice championships between 1980 and 1989 and became national coach of the German national ice hockey team in 1990 together with Erich Kühnhackl.
The former national goalkeeper is the record holder with a total of nine German championship titles, two of which he won in 1998 and 1999 with the Adler Mannheim. From 1999 to 2013 he coached the young eagles, with whom he won the championship of the German youth league ten times. In 2004 he also briefly took over the Adler professional team.
The attacker, together with Manfred Wolf and Harold Kreis, was the first German-Canadian to play in the Bundesliga and won the German championship with the Mannheim ERC in 1980. Roedger played two Olympic Games and six World Championships for the German national team.
Sepp won four German championships with EV Füssen in the 1950s. During his time at MERC, Sepp scored 115 goals. In 104 international matches for Germany, the striker scored 35 goals. He was vice world champion at the 1953 World Cup. After the end of his active career, Sepp became a coach at MERC and EHC Basel.
The Canadian coached various teams from the Bundesliga, including the Mannheim ERC from 1964 to 1967. Between 1953 and 1956, Trottier won four German championships with EV Füssen.
The former international goalkeeper moved from the Berlin ice skating club to Mannheim in 1978, where he won his second German championship in 1980. Weishaupt finally ended his career at the Düsseldorfer EG.
In 1979, Wolf moved from Canada to the Mannheim ERC, with whom he won the German championship in 1980. After five years and another championship title with the Düsseldorfer EG, the German national player returned to Mannheim for the period 1990-1992.

Club records in the DEL

Best stats during team affiliation
category Surname Quantity
Most games Marcus Kink 812 (in fifteen seasons)
Most goals Christopher Ullmann 154 (in eleven seasons)
Most templates Pavel Gross 205 (in five seasons)
Most points Christopher Ullmann 324 (154 goals and 179 assists in 11 seasons)
Most penalty minutes mike stevens 980 (in four seasons)

Other notable former players

(Team affiliation and position in brackets)

The attacker appeared in 253 games for the Mannheim ERC. He scored 43 goals. After his season in Mannheim he moved to EV Landshut.
Blum played continuously from 1978 to 1992 in the ice hockey Bundesliga and had his strongest time at the Mannheim ERC, with which he became German runner-up in 1983. In addition, the defender played two World Cups with the German national team.
In 1981, Eggerbauer moved from EV Füssen to the Mannheim ERC, where he formed a defensive line together with Harold Kreis for many years. In the years 1982, 1983, 1985 and 1987 the defender with the MERC was German runner-up.
The defender reached the final of the German championship in his first year with the MERC and continued to play for the Adler Mannheim even after the DEL was founded. During his time in Mannheim, Hanft also wore the jersey of the German national team a total of 34 times.
The NHL-experienced defender switched from SB Rosenheim to MERC in 1992 and played for Adler Mannheim until 1995. He also played three ice hockey world championships for Germany during his time in Mannheim.
The striker and longtime captain made 812 appearances for Mannheim, scoring 98 goals. The silver medalist from Pyeongchang won the German championship with the eagles in 2007, 2005 and 2019.
The Canadian was on the ice for the Detroit Red Wings in the NHL between 1986 and 1989 and signed with Mannheimer ERC in 1990, where he also played for the Adler in the DEL.
Messier played nine NHL games for the Colorado Rockies and was then under contract with the Mannheim ERC from 1984 to 1990. During this time, the attacker won two runners-up championships and was often one of the top scorers in the league. In 1988 he took part in the Bundesliga All-Star Game.
Born in the Czech Republic, Nentvich scored 87 points in 118 main round games for the team from Mannheim. In 1983 he became German Vice Champion with his team.
The defender, who had beaten MERC in the 1983 championship final with EV Landshut, moved to Mannheim in 1985, where he was German runner-up in 1985 and 1987 and scored 55 points in 236 games.
Plattner moved to the Mannheim ERC in 1990, for whose outsourced professional team he continued to play after the DEL was founded. After a serious injury, Plattner had to pause the entire 1995/96 season and then only played for lower-class teams.
Jiří Poner came from Kölner EC and scored 65 points in 129 games for Mannheim. In 1994 he ended his career.
Reil was one of the top performers with the SC Riessersee 1978 and 1981 German champion, after which he was appointed to the squad of the national team. From 1985 the defender played in Mannheim, where he was runner-up again in 1987.
Silk played over 250 NHL games for the New York Rangers, the Boston Bruins, the Detroit Red Wings and the Winnipeg Jets and was on the ice for the Mannheim ERC in the Bundesliga from 1987, with whom he was one of the team's top scorers in 1987 won the vice championship.
The attacker won three championships with the Cologne EC in the 1980s and switched to the Mannheim ERC in 1986, with which the crowd favorite had to admit defeat in the 1987 play-off final against his former club from the cathedral city.
"Beppo" Schlickenrieder was German runner-up with the Mannheim ERC in 1983, 1985 and 1987 and, during his ten-year career in the city of squares, he competed in three world championships and the 1988 Olympic Games in Calgary.
The striker is the record holder with the most DEL goals and points for the Adler Mannheim. In 561 DEL games for the Adler Ullmann scored 135 goals and 145 assists. In 2007 and 2015 he won the German championship with Mannheim.
The striker played 207 games for Mannheim and scored 52 points. In 1987 he won the runner-up with the team. He is the father of international soccer player Kevin Volland .

Player Participation in the All-Star Game

Some Adler Mannheim players were nominated for the DEL All-Star Game , a friendly game that took place annually from 1998 to 2009 and in which the most outstanding players in the German Ice Hockey League competed against each other.

Participation in the All-Star Game while on the team
Surname position Participation(s) team
Canada Jan Alston striker 1999, 2000 DEL All Star Team DEL All Stars
Canada Francois Bouchard defender 2008 Team North America North America
Canada Fred Brathwaite goalkeeper 2009 Team North America North America
German Canadian Sven Butenschoen defender 2009 Team Europe Europe
Canada Rene Corbet striker 2004
2007		 DEL All Star TeamDEL All-Stars
Team North AmericaNorth America
Canada Andy Delmore defender 2005 DEL All Star Team DEL All Stars
Canada Devin Edgerton striker 2000 DEL All Star Team DEL All Stars
Canada Rico Fata striker 2007 Team North America North America
Germany Marcel Goc striker 2002 Germany Germany
German Canadian Wayne Hynes striker 2002 Germany Germany
Canada Jean Francois Jomphe striker 2000 DEL All Star Team DEL All Stars
Germany Klaus Kathan striker 2004 Germany Germany
Germany Marcus Kink striker 2005 Germany Germany
Germany Edward Lewandowski striker 2007 Europe Europe
Germany Christian Lukes defender 1999 Germany Germany
Canada Dan McGillis striker 2009 Team North America North America
Canada Francois Methot striker 2007, 2008, 2009 Team North America North America
Germany Jochen Molling defender 2004 Germany Germany
Germany Robert Mueller goalkeeper 2002
2008		 DEL All Star TeamDEL All Stars
EuropeEurope
United States Greg Poss Trainer 2007 Team North America North America
Canada Stephane Richer Defender
Assistant Coach		 2002
2005		 DEL All Star Team DEL All Stars
Canada Nathan Robinson striker 2007 Team North America North America
Germany Dennis Seidenberg defender 2002 Germany Germany
Germany Marc Seliger goalkeeper 2004 Germany Germany
Germany Alexander Serikov striker 1998 Germany Germany
Germany Christopher Ullmann striker 2006
2007		 GermanyGermany
EuropeEurope
Germany Stefan Ustorf striker 2002 Germany Germany

Trainer

previous trainers
in the club Trainer in the club Trainer
1939-1940 Germany Toni Lindner Hugo Strauss
Germany 		1985-1986 Canada Doug Kacharvich
1940-1941 Canada Bobby Bell Josef Goebl
Germany 		1986-1989 Czechoslovakia Ladislav Olejnik
1941-1943 Germany Joseph Goebl 1989-1990 Sweden Claes Goran Wallin
1948-1951 Germany Wolfgang Lehr 1990 Germany Heinz Weisenbach
1951-1952 Germany Tony Kartak 1990-1991 Sweden Ole Ost
1952-1953 Germany Erich Schiff Heinz Schneekloth
Germany 		1991-1993 Czech Republic Jiří Kochta
1953-1954 Germany Kurt Kurz (player-coach) 1993-1994 United States Craig Sarner
1954-1955 Germany Gerhard Wesselowski 1994-1999 Canada Lance Nethery
1955-1956 Latvia Ēriks Koņecki's Bruno Guttowski
Germany 		1999-2000 Canada Chris Valentine
1956-1957 Latvia Ēriks Koņeckis 2000-2004 Canada Bill Stewart
1957-1958 Germany Tony Kartak 2004 Germany Helmut de Raaf
1958-1959 Switzerland Richard Torriani 2004-2005 Canada Stephane Richer
1959-1960 SwitzerlandRichard Torriani Bruno Guttowski
Germany		 2005-2006 United States Greg Poss
1960-1961 Germany Bruno Guttowski 2006-2007 United StatesGreg Poss Teal Fowler
United States
1961-1962 Canada Hal Schooley Bruno Guttowski
Germany		 2007-2009 Canada Dave King Teal Fowler
United States
1962-1963 Canada Lorne Trottier 2009 United StatesTeal Fowler (Interim)
1963-1964 Canada Sonny Rost 2009-2010 Canada Doug Mason Teal Fowler
United States
1964-1967 Canada Frank Trottier 2010 United States Teal Fowler
1967-1968 Germany Kurt Sepp 2010-2013 German Canadian Harold Kreis Mike Schmidt
Canada
1968-1969 Canada EdReigle 2014 Germany Hans Zach
1969-1970 Germany Bruno Guttowski 2014-2015 Canada Geoff Ward
1970-1971 Germany Ulrich Finger Bruno Guttowski
Germany		 2015-2016 Canada Greg Ireland
1971-1972 GermanyBruno Guttowski Gerhard Schuhmacher
Germany 		2016 Canada Craig Woodcroft
1972-1976 Germany Eugene Seidl 2016-12/2017 Canada Sean Simpson
1976-1980 Germany Heinz Weisenbach 2017-2018 Canada Bill Stewart
1980-1985 Czechoslovakia Ladislav Olejnik since 2018 Germany Pavel Gross
1985 Germany Wilbert Duszenko

Since the Mannheim ERC was founded in 1938, 39 different coaches from six nations have coached the club. The first full-time coach of the new ice hockey team was Toni Lindner , who took over the post in 1939. He was followed by Hugo Strauss and finally the former German national coach Bobby Bell , the first foreign coach of the Mannheim ERC. However, with 18 nationals to date, most MERC coaches still came from Germany, followed by eleven Canadians, most of whom led the training in Friedrichspark in the 1960s.

The Czech Ladislav Olejník and the Canadian Lance Nethery can look back on the longest tenure with the Mannheimers, who coached the club for five seasons from 1981 to 1985 and from 1994 to 1999 respectively. Apart from a brief interlude at SB Rosenheim in 1986, Olejník even sat on the coaching bench at the Mannheim ERC nine years in a row.

Lance Nethery is also the most successful trainer in the history of the club so far with the championships in 1997 , 1998 and 1999 measured in terms of titles won. This is followed by the other master coaches Heinz Weisenbach ( 1980 ), Bill Stewart ( 2001 ), Greg Poss and Teal Fowler (as a coaching duo in 2007 ) and most recently Geoff Ward in 2015 . A separate pennant under the roof of the SAP Arena commemorates all championships . Stewart and Poss/Fowler also won the German Ice Hockey Cup in 2003 and 2007 respectively. The terms of office of Ladislav Olejník (runner-up 1982 , 1983 , 1985 and 1987 ) and Stéphane Richer (runner-up 2005 ) were also successful.

Championship pennants and blocked jersey numbers

Bruno Guttowski can boast the most terms in office in Mannheim. He coached the MERC in the 1955/56 season together with Ēriks Koņeckis , later he stood again from 1959 to 1962 (together with the Swiss Richard Torriani and the Canadian Hal Schooley ) and from 1969 to 1972 (in the end together with Ulrich Finger and Gerhard Schuhmacher ) behind the gang in Friedrichspark and was therefore the coach of the MERC for a total of 7 seasons.

For the 2015/16 season , the Adler committed Greg Ireland , who previously worked in the Canadian junior league OHL and received a contract until 2017. The Canadian took over from master coach Geoff Ward , who in the summer of 2015 exercised the release clause in his two-year contract in favor of a return to the National Hockey League to serve as assistant coach of the New Jersey Devils . Ireland's coaching staff was completed by Steve Walker and Craig Woodcroft , each acting as assistant coaches. After the Adler fell well short of sporting expectations in the current season and ran the risk of missing out on the play-offs, Ireland was released in February 2016 and replaced by the previous assistant coach Woodcroft until the end of the season. Woodcroft subsequently left the Eagles, in May 2016 Sean Simpson was hired as the new head coach, his assistants becoming Colin Muller and Steve Walker.

For the 2017/18 season, Steve Walker ended his engagement as assistant coach and switched to EBEL as head coach for Klagenfurter AC . The Adler Mannheim appointed longtime Adler player and NHL veteran Jochen Hecht to succeed him . In December 2017, after 14 years, Bill Stewart took over as head coach at the Adler Mannheim for the second time. Pavel Gross has been head coach of the Adler since the 2018/19 season and won the German championship in his first season with the team.

parent club

The amateur and junior sections are now organized in the Mannheim ERC itself. In 2001, the previous parent club Mannheimer ERC had to file for bankruptcy, whereupon the art skating - speed skating - ice shooting department Mannheimer ERC KSE, which had already split off in 1976 , merged with the Mannheimer ERC Eishockey - Spielbetrieb e. V. founded a new ice hockey department, which then took over the role of the old parent club. After the merger with the previously independent youth department at the beginning of 2010, the parent club was called MERC-Jungadler Mannheim e. V

In addition, from 1982 to 2005, a women's team called "Mannheimer ERC Wild Cats" belonged to the club.

Mannheim ERC

After the amateur team of the MERC had already achieved the runner-up title in the Baden-Württembergliga - the top division of the ice sports association Baden-Württemberg - behind the Schwenninger ERC Fire Wings in 2005 and had decided not to move up to the Oberliga for financial reasons, the club finally succeeded in the championship title in the 2005/06 season . However, due to a lack of sufficient financial resources, promotion again had to be dispensed with, after which the MERC again took part in the 2006/07 season in the Baden-Württembergliga. Although the team reached the promotion round to the Oberliga , but failed there with a sixth place. In 2008 , the team made it into the qualifying round for the promotion round to the Oberliga as first place in the championship round , but failed there at ESV Hügelsheim and SG Stuttgarter EC / SC Bietigheim-Bissingen .

For the 2009/10 season , the Mannheimer ERC merged with the EC Eppelheim at men's and junior level to form the Rhein-Neckar Stars game community. The men's team took part in the game operations of the Regionalliga Süd-West with the Mannheimer license , home ground is the Icehouse Eppelheim .

young eagle

Even when the MERC was founded, intensive youth work was carried out in the club, so that in the 1940/41 season the youth team of the MERC reached the final for the German championship. After long, sometimes very successful decades, youth work was brought to a professional level in 1999 with the arrival of patron Dietmar Hopp and the Jungadler project was launched. A sports boarding school was set up in Mannheim, where talented young players from all over Germany are accepted, and the former Adler goalkeeper Helmut de Raaf was hired as the main coach. In the German youth league founded in 2000 , de Raaf immediately led the young eagles to the German vice championship title. In 2002, they finally managed to win the German championship, which they defended every year until 2006, before becoming runner-up in 2007. In 2008 and 2009, the young eagles won their sixth and seventh championships. In 2010, the young eagles prevailed in the second final game 3-2 after extra time against the youth of the DEG Metro Stars and won the eighth of a total of ten DNL championships played. In the years 2012 to 2019, the young eagles celebrated the championship titles 9 to 16.

Junior Championships

  • Record champion German junior league DNL (16)
  • German U17 champion 2019
  • five-time German student champion

Since the MERC men's team only plays in the Baden-Württemberg league, the young eagles were reassigned from the previous Mannheimer ERC club to the Heilbronner EC after the 2005/06 season , which means that talented young players can also gain experience with the Heilbronner Falken professional team , which plays in the 2nd Bundesliga could. Over the years, the young eagles went on to become numerous professional players such as Fabio Carciola , Danny aus den Birken , Frank Mauer , Rainer Köttstorfer , Sachar Blank , Constantin Braun , David Wolf , Florian Busch , Christopher Fischer , Robert Dietrich , Jerome Flaake , Felix Schütz , Benedikt Kohl , Marcel Noebels or Christoph Gawlik . At the beginning of 2010, however, the young eagles were re-affiliated to the parent club Mannheimer ERC.

Mannheim ERC Wild Cats (women)

The women's team of the Mannheimer ERC was founded in 1982 as the "Mannheimer ERC Bob Cats" and took part in the Baden-Württemberg-Liga from 1984 and from 1986 also in the NRW-Liga, which later became the Bundesliga North . The most successful period of the team, which was renamed "Wild Cats", was between 1988 and 1994 with three German championships and three runners-up championships. After a personnel upheaval in the team, after which they were able to stay up in the Bundesliga, the Wild Cats again finished runners-up in 1998 and won their fourth and fifth championship title in 1999 and 2000.

For the 2005/06 season, the game was initially abandoned after four players had terminated their contracts and thus no longer a playable team existed.

venues

Ice rink at Friedrichspark

Friedrichspark ice rink

In 1939, before the Second World War, the ice rink was opened in Friedrichspark , not far from Mannheim Palace . It was built according to plans by Richard Pabst, who had previously built the Olympic Stadium in Garmisch-Partenkirchen . Heavily destroyed in an air raid in 1943, the stadium was rebuilt by 1949 in a simplified form and in an open design. It was only between 1959 and 1962 that the grandstands were successively covered and finally in 1969 the ice surface was also covered with a roof. The ice stadium at Friedrichspark was still open on three sides and at the transition between the playing area and the grandstands, so that the games were impaired in heavy snowfall or fog. At its peak, 11,000 spectators were admitted, but later the capacity was limited to around 8,200 for safety reasons.

As the stadium got older, the condition of the stadium became more and more dilapidated, but the city of Mannheim, as the owner, was unable to carry out more than the most urgent repairs. In the 1980s, when some television stations refused to carry out live broadcasts because of the poor working conditions, the construction of a new stadium was discussed for the first time. In 1988, the performance center for ice sports in Mannheim burned down completely, whereupon plans were drawn up that provided a joint solution for a stadium with 15,000 seats.

SAP Arena

The SAP Arena, home of the Adler since 2005

After years of unsuccessful debate about the construction of a new arena, patron Dietmar Hopp finally gave the impetus to build a new multifunctional arena. Hopp offered the city interest-free pre-financing, which stipulates that the arena will become the property of the city of Mannheim after paying off the construction costs of 70 million euros after 30 years. As a result, construction of the new SAP Arena in the east of Mannheim began in 2004, and two training halls donated by Hopp were built on the site. On April 18, 2005, the last competitive game of the Adler Mannheim in Friedrichspark took place with the defeat in the play-off final series against Berlin. On the last weekend of April, a farewell party was held under the motto "Bye bye Friedrichspark", the highlights of which were the games of the "Adler All-Stars 1994-1999" against the "Adler-All-Stars 2000-2005" and the MERC Champion team in 1980 against the "MERC All-Stars". On August 21, 2005, when only the lower tier of the new arena was completed, the Adler played their first game in the new stadium in a friendly against Cologne. The official inauguration followed on September 6th with a match against a DEL Dream team. Two days later, the first competitive game finally took place, which the Adler won against Düsseldorf 6:5 after a penalty shoot-out .

After the main round in 2019/20 , the Adler were able to generate an average of 11,891 spectators per game (occupancy: 86.76%) and were thus in fifth place in Europe.

club culture

Fans before a play-off game against Cologne (March 2008)
Fan curve before a game against the Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg (2012)

fans and rivalries

The Adler Mannheim currently have 41 fan clubs in which over 1,100 fans are organized. The clubs are not only found in Mannheim, but are spread all over southwest Germany . To better organize their activities, the individual clubs have joined forces to form the Mannheim fan initiative Die Blau-Weiss-Roten . For several years, one player from the Adler squad has taken on the “sponsorship” of a fan club. At home games, organized fans stay in the standing room area in the north-west corner of the SAP Arena.

Due to the regional proximity, there is a rivalry between the fans of the two DEL founding members Adler Mannheim and Frankfurt Lions , which is remembered by fans and the media before and during the encounters between the two rival clubs. In the important encounters between the two teams, such as the play-off semi-finals in 1998 and 2005 as well as in the quarter-finals in 2007 , the Eagles have always been close and not always undisputedly victorious, which has strengthened the rivalry over the years.

partnerships

In June 2004, the Adler Mannheim announced that they would be entering into a collaboration with the Heilbronner EC . The Mannheimers support the HEC in sporting terms, above all by helping to organize the training of the falcons with their own goalkeeper and fitness trainers and by exchanging junior and promotional license players. According to the rules of the German Ice Hockey Federation , DEL teams are allowed to give players under the age of 25 a promotional license , which entitles them to play for another club in a lower league. The junior players of the Adler gained their first experience in the professional field with the Falken through this regulation and were thus slowly introduced to the highest German ice hockey class, while they playfully strengthened the second division team, which resulted in a synergy effect for both clubs. As a result, the Falcons undertook to introduce a game and training system similar to that of the Adler Mannheim to allow the substitute players an easier transition when changing teams. In addition, the Heilbronner Falken used the Adler Mannheim scouting system in North America from 2004, which primarily enabled young players from the US college game operation and the ECHL to be committed, since the DEL club primarily focuses on players from the higher-class National Hockey League and American Hockey League focused. At the same time, the Eagles had the opportunity to observe players from North America signed by the Falcons without obligation and then sign them themselves without any risk. The other agreements of the cooperation agreement included the creation of a corporate identity based on the North American model. Merchandise from the cooperation partner is sold by the other club, and the jersey design for the Falcons has been adapted to match the colors and design of the Mannheim Eagles' uniform. In addition, the stadium magazine of the eagles reported from 2004 at times on the games of the Heilbronner falcons. For the 2006/07 season , the existing cooperation was strengthened by the Mannheimer DNL team, the Jungadler , being reorganized from the previous parent club Mannheimer ERC to the HEC.

With the relegation of Heilbronn from the DEL2 after the 2014/2015 season , the cooperation with the eagles had to be dissolved, since such cooperation is only permitted between DEL and DEL2. Since it was not yet clear at this point that Heilbronn would still take part in the 2015/2016 DEL2 season due to the withdrawal of the license from EV Landshut , the Adler Mannheim agreed to cooperate with the Kassel Huskies for the 2015/2016 DEL season .

From May 2009, the Kurpfälzer also cooperated with the Toronto Maple Leafs from the National Hockey League . The partnership initially envisaged increased participation by Jungadler players in the Canadian rookie camps, and there should be an exchange between the two organizations at an administrative and strategic level. The collaboration ended in 2015 due to a lack of interest from Toronto.

In 2007, the Adler Mannheim entered into a cooperation with the Bundesliga baseball club Mannheim Tornados . As part of the cooperation, Adler season ticket holders have been able to attend Tornados games for free since that time, and the visit of Adler players from Roberto Clemente Field is intended to generate greater media interest in the baseball team.

As part of a media partnership with MERC, the private local broadcaster Radio Regenbogen broadcasts all Adler Mannheim games in full length on web radio, which can be received via app, Amazon Alexa or via a digital stream channel.

social commitment

The ice surface of the SAP Arena at the "Teddy Bear Toss" after the game against the Augsburg Panthers on December 19, 2010

The Adler Mannheim and their fans are socially committed in many ways and support, among other things, the initiative of former Adler goalkeeper Mike Rosati, which is called "Rosys Kids Corner" and collects donations for the fight against leukemia . Annually, a game called "The Shining Hearts Game" is held during a game of eagles and funds are raised for Rosys Kids Corner and other facilities. In 2008, the campaign raised 60,000 euros in donations. In December 2008, another EUR 40,000 was donated to the “Eagle Help People” initiative founded in 2008 and the German Leukemia Research Aid for the “Spiel der lichten Herzen” game .

During the Christmas season, the Adler Mannheim organize a " Teddy Bear Toss " in which, based on the North American model, the spectators are encouraged to bring teddy bears and throw them onto the ice after the game. The plush bears are then donated to various charitable institutions.

Since the 2006/07 season there have been solid partnerships between the club and schools in this region, within the framework of which, for example, the North American players of the Adler attend English lessons in the partner schools and hold talks there in German and English. In addition, the club supports the "Drugs put you on hold" campaign, which has been carried out for several years in cooperation with the criminal police .

mascot

The traditional mascot of the Mannheim ERC is the eagle , which gave its name to the new DEL club after the professional team was spun off. Even today, the eagle as a mascot is an important part of the club's merchandising area, although it does not appear at the eagle's home games. This role is assumed by the official mascot of the SAP Arena , which was given the name "Udo" in a competition for school classes, named after the popular hall announcer of the eagles, Udo Scholz . The hamster is based on the hamster population that had to be resettled on the Bösfeld in Mannheim before the start of construction of the SAP Arena. Before and after the Eagles' games and during the breaks between thirds, it steps onto the ice in the form of a skater in a plush hamster costume and tries to raise the atmosphere in the hall with various animation activities.

After the first home game of the 2015/2016 season against the Schwenningen Wild Wings , the mascot performer made obscene gestures in the direction of the away block. This event drew an unusually large media echo throughout Germany. In response to complaints from Schwenningen fans to the management of the Adler, the organization apologized publicly via Facebook for the incident - shortly afterwards it became known that the mascot actor would no longer be booked in the future. The protest organized by Mannheim fans against this decision in the form of an online petition was unsuccessful.

literature

  • The Adler Mannheim Eishockey Spielbetriebs GmbH + Co. KG: We are champions...: The official book for the German Championship 1997 . o.V., Mannheim 1997
  • Matthias Fries: Bye bye Friedrichspark . The Eagles Mannheim, Mannheim 2005
  • Matthias Fries: The Eagles Mannheim: Guide 2006/2007 . The Eagles Mannheim, Mannheim 2006
  • Patrick Reichelt: Superliga DEL: the chronicle of the German ice hockey league , Kassel 2004, ISBN 3-89784-247-5
  • Jörg Schäufele: MERC-Eishockey eV: The way to the German top . Dasbach, Taunusstein 1980
  • Jörg Schäufele, Kurt Schaller: 50 years of MERC: 1938–1988 . Sportschriftenverlag, Mannheim 1988
  • Werner Spachmann: 25 years of MERC . Untitled, Ilvesheim 1963

web links

Commons : Adler Mannheim  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

itemizations

  1. ↑ adler-mannheim.de, History Adler Mannheim: The Beginnings ( Memento from 2 September 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ adler-mannheim.de, History Adler Mannheim: A bitter year for Mannheim ice hockey ( memento from January 16, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ Matthias Fries: Time to say good bye ... . Mannheim 1998, p. 12
  4. ↑ The Ice Hockey Series (2): Years of Entertainment Value. In: rnz.de. 21 June 2013, retrieved 13 March 2020 .
  5. ↑ Patrick Reichelt: Superliga DEL: the chronicle of the German ice hockey league . Kassel 2004, p. 48
  6. ↑ stadionwelt.de, "All in all very satisfied" , 2 October 2006
  7. ↑ iihf.com, SC Bern is still the attending king of European hockey clubs ( memento of November 21, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Report from the International Ice Hockey Federation, March 2007
  8. ↑ http://www.ard.de , 5:4 against Mannheim after 168 minutes, Haie win record game ( Memento from April 9, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  9. ↑ nibelungen-kurier.de, Adler Mannheim season report : All goals achieved, but still a bitter aftertaste May 26, 2012.
  10. ↑ Jan Kotulla: "Visitors should experience ice hockey" . In: Mannheimer Morgen , November 23, 2012. Retrieved January 2, 2016.
  11. ↑ Adler Mannheim break up with Harold Kreis ( Memento of January 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) , Mannheimer Morgen December 31, 2013
  12. ↑ Friedhelm Thelen: Unbelievable: Mannheim after a third 0-3 deficit in the final. In: Hockeyweb.de . April 2, 2015.
  13. ↑ Christian Rotter, Jan Kotulla: German Champion! Eagles make Mannheim proud. In: morgenweb.de . April 23, 2015.
  14. ↑ Jörg Schäufele, Kurt Schaller: 50 years of MERC: 1938–1988 , p. 176f.
  15. ↑ dpa-infocom GmbH: Sean Simpson new ice hockey coach at Adler Mannheim. In: welt.de . May 11, 2016, retrieved October 7, 2018 .
  16. ↑ sportschau.de: DEL, 52nd matchday: Eisbären Berlin and Red Bull Munich with home wins . February 26, 2017 ( sportschau.de [accessed March 1, 2017]).
  17. ↑ Out in quarterfinals: Adler Mannheim lose to Berlin. Retrieved March 21, 2017 .
  18. ↑ https://www.adler-mannheim.de/aktuelles/adler-separate-sich-von-teal-fowler-sean-simpson-und-colin-mueller/
  19. ↑ https://www.swr.de/sport/eishockey-del-die-adler-separate-sich-von-sean-simpson/-/id=1208948/did=20745544/nid=1208948/uzvj8c/index.html
  20. ↑ DEL: Adler Mannheim introduce coach Bill Stewart. In: sport1.de. 5 December 2017, retrieved 22 January 2018 .
  21. ↑ https://www.adler-mannheim.de/aktuelles/jan-axel-alavaara- wird-sport-manager-der-adler-mannheim/
  22. ↑ https://www.del.org/news/pavel-gross-verlaesst-die-grizzlys-wolfsburg-und-wechselt-nach-mannheim/8072
  23. ↑ Attention! Mannheim is champion. In: kicker.de . April 26, 2019, retrieved May 28, 2019 .
  24. ↑ Danny of the Birches is Player and Goalkeeper of the Year - Lehtivuori, Gogulla, Seider and Jackson are also honored. Retrieved May 28, 2019 .
  25. ↑ German ice hockey league ends season prematurely. Retrieved October 24, 2020 .
  26. ↑ https://www.sportschau.de/eishockey/del/swr-acht-neue-faelle-corona-weitt-bei-den-adler-mannheim-aus-story100.html
  27. ↑ adler-mannheim.de Adler Mannheim sign Greg Ireland as new head coach ( memento of December 26, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  28. ↑ adler-mannheim.de Die Adler separate from Greg Ireland ( Memento dated February 11, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  29. ↑ ADLER Mannheim. (No longer available online.) In: www.adler-mannheim.de. Archived from the original on May 11, 2016 ; retrieved 11 May 2016 .
  30. ↑ Adler part ways with Teal Fowler, Sean Simpson and Colin Muller. Retrieved December 4, 2017 (German).
  31. ↑ MERC-Jungadler Mannheim eV - Der Verein ( Memento from January 18, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  32. ↑ Rhein-Neckar-Stars « ECE – 1st team. In: eisbaeren-eppelheim.com. Retrieved March 10, 2017 .
  33. ↑ MERC and ECE become Rhein Neckar Stars. In: hockeyweb.de. 25 August 2010, retrieved 10 March 2017 .
  34. ↑ Rhein-Neckar Stars - home ground
  35. ↑ Mannheimer Morgen , Destroying Zickenzoff: MERC signs off women's team ( Memento of February 11, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), November 16, 2005
  36. ↑ iihf.com, Season ended in attendance high
  37. ↑ adler-mannheim.de, overview of fan clubs ( memento from January 29, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  38. ↑ Mannheimer Morgen , "Baden-Württemberg win-win situation" , April 25, 2012
  39. ↑ DEB Passstelle, DEL funding licenses ( Memento of February 9, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  40. ↑ Eishockey News from June 22, 2004, Adler & Falken: The cooperation is perfect ( Memento from July 10, 2004 in the Internet Archive )
  41. ↑ adler-mannheim.de, Adler cooperate with the Toronto Maple Leafs ( Memento from May 27, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  42. ↑ rnz.de, The eagles must forge new alliances
  43. ↑ adler-mannheim.de, Mannheim Tornados are now partners of the Adler ( Memento from February 12, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  44. ↑ adler-mannheim.de, handover of donation to leukemia research ( memento from February 12, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  45. ↑ adler-mannheim.de, Teddy Bear Toss on December 19, 2010 ( Memento from December 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  46. ↑ adler-mannheim.de Adler School Project ( Memento from December 20, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  47. ↑ SAP Arena fan shop, accessories
  48. ↑ sap-arena.de: The mascot of the SAP ARENA , SAP ARENA mascot is called "UDO" .
  49. ↑ Michael Hörskens: A life at the microphone , Rheinpfalz , April 8, 2015.
  50. ↑ The mascot of the SAP ARENA. Retrieved November 23, 2020 .
  51. ↑ Adler Mannheim fire mascot "Hamster Udo" , Die Welt , September 15, 2015.
  52. ↑ Hamster Udo goes overboard: Adler Mannheim fire mascot , n-tv.de , September 15, 2015.
  53. ↑ Adrian Geiler: Fans support obscene hamster , sport1.de , September 16, 2015.
  54. ↑ Hamster Udo overdoes it: Adler Mannheim fire mascot actor , Mannheimer Morgen , September 15, 2015.
  55. ↑ Freedom for our mascot UDO! .