Crocodiles Hamburg
| Crocodiles Hamburg | |
|---|---|
| Club information | |
| history |
FTV Crocodiles (1990–1996) Crocodiles Hamburg in FTV (since 1996) |
| Parent club | Farmsener Turnverein Hamburg |
| Club colors | Red - black - white - green |
| league | Oberliga Nord |
| Venue | Farmsen ice rink |
| capacity | 1,955 seats (including 500 seats) |
| executive Director | Susann Noll (Head of Department) |
| Head coach | Jacek Płachta |
| captain | Norman Martens |
| Season 2019/20 | 3rd place |
The Crocodiles Hamburg are a German ice hockey club from the Hamburg district of Farmsen . He has been a member of the Farmsen gymnastics club since it was founded in 1990 . The first team plays in the Oberliga Nord , and the club also provides two other men's, one women's and seven youth teams .
The home games are played by the teams of the Crocodiles, which was one of the founding members of the 2nd Bundesliga in 1998 and applied for admission to the DEL in 2000, in the Farmsen ice rink , which can hold 2,300 spectators . The club colors of the Crocodiles Hamburg are mainly red and black, supplemented by the secondary colors white and green.
history
Early years and upswing (1990 to 1996)
The ice hockey department of the Farmenser Turnverein Hamburg was founded in 1990 as "FTV Crocodiles" and the direct successor to the 1st EHC Hamburg. The players of all EHC teams switched to Farmsener TV, which began playing in the national league in 1990. The Crocodiles won their first home game in Farmsen against Altonaer SV 2-0, both goals were scored in the last third by Hans Sulzgruber, who developed into one of the club's most important players in the following years. The number of spectators at the games of the premiere season settled at around 80 spectators, unless a visiting club brought a larger number of spectators.
In the mid-1990s, the Hamburg entrepreneur Klaus-Peter Jebens made the decision to build a multifunctional arena in the east of the city. It should be on its premises at Höltigbaum and have a capacity of 8,500 to 10,000 spectators. Jebens wanted to build the hall with his own financial means, but the Hamburg Senate prevented the project on the grounds that the infrastructure on the outskirts of Hamburg was not sufficient for the hall and that there was no train station nearby. However, the city also considered the construction of a new arena to be inevitable, as the old sports halls in Alsterdorf with around 4,000 seats and in Wandsbek with a capacity of around 2,000 seats had become too small.
In order to underline the location of his hall, Klaus-Peter Jebens was looking for an ice hockey club from the east of the city, which he could present as the home team of his planned hall at Höltigbaum.
Successful years in the second division (1996 to 2000)
In 1996, Jebens became the sole shareholder of Crocodiles, which has since been spun off from the parent association FTV. A new club emblem, which is still used today in a slightly modified form, was introduced. In addition, the renovation work on the old ice rink began, which included the replacement of wooden benches in bucket seats, the renovation of the sanitary facilities, the installation of a camera-compatible press stand and the construction of a VIP area. Since the Crocodiles were always able to turn over the highest budget thanks to Jeben's support in the lower leagues, the Hamburg team rose in sport in the following years. With some double-digit victories and the purchase of licenses from higher-class clubs, the Crocodiles managed to move up to the second-class first division north in three years . There, the team took tenth place in the 1997/98 season and thus qualified for the newly founded Bundesliga , which was played as the 2nd Bundesliga from the 1999/2000 season .
The average number of spectators had risen steadily due to the sporting successes in recent years, against the Düsseldorfer EG , which had previously withdrawn from the German ice hockey league due to financial problems , and other well-known teams in the new second division, the hall was sold out with around 2,300 spectators .
Crash into the Association League (2000 to 2001)
In the summer of 2000, the Crocodiles, who had reached the play-off quarter- finals of the 1999/2000 season , tried to buy the DEL license from the retired Starbulls Rosenheim and move up to the highest ice hockey league. However, the approval of the sale was not given by the DEL shareholders' meeting. After the Hamburg citizenship announced that they wanted to build a multifunctional arena for around 12,300 spectators in the Volkspark next to the Volksparkstadion , the Crocodiles' Spielbetriebs-GmbH was taken over by the sole shareholder Klaus-Peter Jebens, who claims to have contributed five million Deutschmarks to the club during his engagement had invested.
Farmsener TV initially managed to continue the game operations in the Oberliga Nord for one season with a new GmbH, which, however, had to be finally stopped after the season. The players who were still under contract left the team during the current 2000/01 season , so that the team could no longer remain competitive. After the number of spectators had decreased significantly, the club had to file for bankruptcy with liabilities of 500,000 D-Marks.
After the season, the outsourced team of the Crocodiles was reintegrated into the parent club Farmsener TV and continued to play under the name "Crocodiles Hamburg" in the association league, while the GmbH was dissolved. Despite free admission, the number of spectators rarely exceeded 100 visitors.
New beginning, another crash and upheaval (2001 to 2007)
After three years in the association league, the club succeeded in qualifying for the upcoming regional league season in 2004 after finishing fifth in the play-offs . As a result, the number of viewers rose again, and the Crocodiles managed to stay up in the play-downs in their first regional league season.
In the 2005/06 season , the North and East Regional Leagues were combined to form the North-East Regional League. Participating clubs included the neighbors EC Timmendorfer Strand and Adendorfer EC , but also the Piranhas Rostock , two representatives from Berlin, the ESC Leipzig , the Halle and the EHV Schönheide . Due to the additional travel costs that this resulted in, the budget was significantly burdened. Since the Crocodiles, in contrast to the top teams from Rostock and Leipzig, whose contracts were 780,000 and 1.2 million euros respectively, only had a budget of 19,800 euros, the team only finished last in the main round. Since there was only one training ice age available, the Crocodiles were inferior to the semi-professionals from the other clubs.
Nevertheless, the team secured relegation in the play-downs, while local rivals Adendorfer EC had to relegate for the first time in their history. Due to the fact that the number of spectators did not grow again, the costs for this season were ultimately 30,000 euros higher than expected, so that the FTV voluntarily relegated to the association league, together with the insolvent EC Timmendorfer Strand and the Adendorfer EC. After a bad start to the season with six defeats in a row, disputes within the team, among other things due to the change from player- coach Johan Pawletta to local rivals Hamburger SV , the Crocodiles only ended the 2006/07 season in seventh place. However, the primary goal of avoiding financial losses again was achieved. The average attendance was 180 fans, with 300 spectators against HSV 450 and Adendorf alone.
Although one could have moved up to the new Regionalliga Nord, the club finally renounced the promotion for economic reasons. Top performers such as Alexandre Santos, one of the league's top scorers , Stefan Gebauer and goalkeepers Matthias Rieck and Guido Titzhoff left the Crocodiles and switched to city rivals Hamburger SV, who were able to compete in the higher-class regional league. Erich Dumpis also switched to the Beach Boys from Timmendorf.
Promotion to the regional league (2007 to 2010)
Despite the departures of the top performers, the team around player-coach Dennis Wellnitz and assistant Wolfgang Asmuß were able to prevail against nine other teams without defeat, only in Salzgitter, Altona and Osterode they only won after penalty shoot-outs. The Crocodiles won the first local derby after a long time against Altonaer SV in Farmsen 7-2, but in the second leg the team only won the penalty shootout.
Spectator interest also increased again. There were 500 spectators in the hall against the direct competitor for the championship title, the EHC Osterode , and over 50 fans accompanied the team to the game in Osterode. Against the Hannover Scorpions junior team with DEL legend Len Soccio as player-coach , 800 spectators came to the local ice rink, which meant the highest number of spectators in a competitive game since the 2000/01 league season. In view of the continued difficult financial situation, however, the Crocodiles again refrained from advancing. However, the league management of the Lower Saxony Ice Sports Association urged that the Crocodiles exercise their right of promotion as champions or instead should relegate to the state league. Finally, a compromise was reached, which provided for a forced relegation of the first men's team to the national league and the continuation of the game operations as a 1b team as well as the establishment of a new team with the additional name Juniors in the association league. The FTV committed itself to play in each game of the Juniors with at least twelve U23 players. The junior team still consisted for the most part of the squad from the previous season, supplemented by some players from the youth and junior area. At the end of the season they reached fourth place behind the relegated regional league Wedemark Scorpions , REV Bremerhaven 1b and the Salzgitter Steelers .
The women's syndicate with the Adendorfer EC was indeed champion of the 1st women's league north-east in the 2007/08 season, since in the next higher division, the 2nd northern league, however, no syndicates are allowed, the game operation was under the roof of the Adendorfer EC continued. The FTV youth team was meanwhile North German champions and was only eliminated in the semi-finals for promotion to the youth Bundesliga after Grefrath Nierspanther had to admit defeat.
In the 2009/10 season , the Crocodiles start with the first men's team in the regional league , although they could not qualify in the previous year.
Oberliga Nord (since 2010)
Due to the league reform of the 3rd division in summer 2010, the Crocodiles team took part in the Oberliga Nord 2010/11 and reached 8th place after the preliminary round. In the 2011/12 season , after finishing 8th, the team reached 3rd place in the relegation round after the main round. In the 2012/13 season the team finished 7th in the main round and reached 3rd place in the placement round. Although the Crocodiles ran into financial difficulties during the 2014/15 season and things did not look good for the team for a while, they did 6th place after the preliminary round and 5th place after the play-offs in the season, the best placement in the last 15 years. A season later, the Crocodiles took 18th and last place after the main round, were able to place themselves in the relegation round in front of local rivals HSV and the Berlin clubs Preussen and FASS and thus keep the class. For the 2016/17 season , the Farmseners managed a surprise coup by signing the former captain of the Hamburg Freezers Christoph Schubert . With this commitment, the Crocodiles achieved a sporting revival. Many new sponsors were acquired through the end of the Hamburg Freezers. In July 2017, the Austrian Herbert Hohenberger was hired as the new head coach. The Crocodiles are working with a budget of around € 750,000 for the 2017/18 season. Hohenberger's successor as Hamburg coach was Jacek Plachta in May 2018 .
In mid-December 2018, the operating company of the Crocodiles, 1. Hamburger Eissport GmbH, filed for bankruptcy. A message from the Hamburg-based company said there was a loss of already promised funding of 250,000 euros. It was a plan insolvency proceedings initiated. In mid-January 2019, the club announced that it would be able to keep the game going until the end of the 2018/19 season thanks to donations of almost 200,000 euros. The creditors approved the insolvency plan in April 2019.
For the 30th anniversary of their club in 2020, the Crocodiles are planning an open-air winter game in the Millerntor Stadium , the home of FC St. Pauli . The planning is in the early stages and the next step is to talk to the football club. The game is planned for late 2020 or early 2021. The opponent would be the Hanover Indians , who on the one hand have a large fan base and on the other hand, the game would have a derby character due to the proximity . Those responsible for the Crocodiles were in the Rudolf Harbig Stadium on January 4, 2019 for the game of the Dresdner Eislöwen against the Lausitzer Füchse in front of the DEL2 record crowd of 32,009 spectators to get an insight into the organization and the course of the event. Furthermore, there are considerations to build a new hall that meets the requirements of the DEL or DEL2 . The Farmsen ice rink as the current arena is over 40 years old and offers fewer than 2,000 seats. The plans are to be specified after the 2020 parliamentary elections .
Placements since 2010
| season | league | Main round | Season end |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010/11 | Oberliga Nord | 8th place | 2nd place Oberliga Nord final group B |
| 2011/12 | Oberliga Nord | 8th place | 4th place Oberliga Nord Relegation Group B |
| 2012/13 | Oberliga Nord | 7th place | 3rd place Oberliga Nord placement round, 5th place Oberliga Nord Pokal |
| 2013/14 | Oberliga Nord | 8th place | 4th place Oberliga Nord Cup |
| 2014/15 | Oberliga Nord | 6th place | 5th place Oberliga Nord play-offs |
| 2015/16 | Oberliga Nord | 18th place | 1st place Oberliga Nord relegation round |
| 2016/17 | Oberliga Nord | 4th Place | 5th place Oberliga Nord intermediate round, round of 16 in the play-offs |
| 2017/18 | Oberliga Nord | 9th place | 2nd place Oberliga Nord qualifying round |
| 2018/19 | Oberliga Nord | 9th place | No participation in the play-offs due to bankruptcy proceedings |
team
Team of the 2019/20 season
As of December 11, 2019
| No. | Surname | Date of birth | place of birth | In the team since | Last team | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| goalkeeper | ||||||
| 32 |
|
Kai Kristian | February 14, 1991 | Augsburg , Germany | 2016 | EV Landshut |
| 40 |
|
Carlos Warnecke | August 23, 2000 | Hamburg , Germany | 2018 | Crocodiles Hamburg U19 |
| 97 |
|
Niklas Zoschke | February 19, 1997 | Berlin , Germany | 2018 | Lusatian foxes |
| defender | ||||||
| 4th |
|
Tom Kübler | July 22, 1999 | Augsburg , Germany | 2018 | El Paso Rhinos |
| 9 |
|
Norman Martens | May 24, 1986 | Winsen , Germany | 2017 | Foxes Duisburg |
| 10 |
|
Leon Fern | March 20, 1997 | Velbert , Germany | 2019 | Mosquitoes eat |
| 11 |
|
Fabian Calovi | March 11, 1991 | Bolzano , Italy | 2015 | Deggendorfer SC |
| 18th |
|
Yannis Walch | April 25, 1995 | Villingen-Schwenningen , Germany | 2019 | Mosquitoes eat |
| 33 |
|
Raik Rennert | February 21, 2000 | Erfurt , Germany | 2019 | Iserlohner EC U20 |
| 44 |
|
Dominic Steck | 17th January 1994 | Augsburg , Germany | 2019 | Hamburger SV |
| 58 |
|
Jan Tramm | September 20, 1995 | Hamburg , Germany | 2019 | Foxes Duisburg |
| attacker | ||||||
| 3 |
|
Dennis Reimer | 4th June 1993 | Herford , Germany | 2019 | EC Bad Nauheim |
| 8th |
|
Nicolas Strodel | November 24, 1998 | Buchloe , Germany | 2019 | Mosquitoes eat |
| 12 |
|
Rico Rossi AL | August 2, 1998 | Nordhorn , Germany | 2019 | Powassan Voodoos |
| 15th |
|
Tobias Bruns | September 19, 1989 | Hamburg , Germany | 2013 | Hamburger SV |
| 20th |
|
Chase Witala AL | May 27, 1995 | Prince George , British Columbia , Canada | 2019 | Jacksonville Icemen |
| 24 |
|
Daniel Lupzig | October 24, 1989 | Straubing , Germany | 2018 | EHC Timmendorfer Strand 06 |
| 26th |
|
Dominik Lascheit | January 10, 1995 | Eutin , Germany | 2018 | Mosquitoes eat |
| 28 |
|
Jordan Draper AL | May 12, 1989 | Sherwood Park , Alberta , Canada | 2019 | CBR Brave |
| 57 |
|
Patrick Saggau | November 26, 1983 | Lübeck , Germany | 2018 | EHC Timmendorfer Strand 06 |
| 78 |
|
Leo Prussner | December 11, 2000 | Dubuque , Iowa , USA | 2017 | Hamburger SV U19 |
| 87 |
|
Thomas Zuravlev | January 7, 1993 | Hanover , Germany | 2019 | Mosquitoes eat |
| 88 |
|
André Gerartz | October 12, 1993 | Cologne , Germany | 2019 | Mosquitoes eat |
Significant past teams
Promoted to the Bundesliga in 1998
| position | Surname |
| Goal: | Jens Casten , Carsten Solbach |
| Defense: | Dieter Bloem , Marc Drenkhahn , Daniel Jardemyr , Terho Koskela , Markus Krützfeldt , Martin Lindman , Paris Proft , Earl Spry , Greg Thomson |
| Storm: | Damian Adamus , Fabian Ahrens , Jonas Andersson , Van Burgess , Till Feser , Mark Franks , Brad Gratton , Jeff Herman , Petr Kopta , Mark Mahon , Patryk Pysz , Peter Renner , Pat Ryan , Harald Waibel |
| Trainer: | Bob Burns |
Second division team 1998/99
| position | Surname |
| Goal: | Jim Hrivnak , Ralf Kanstorf , Carsten Solbach |
| Defense: | Dieter Bloem , Phil Bourque , Alexander Genze , Markus Krützfeldt , Karsten Mende , John Noob , Paris Proft , Earl Spry , Greg Thomson |
| Storm: | Fabian Ahrens , Michael Bänke , Jim Bermingham , Van Burgess , Jeremiah Burns , Andrew Clark , Tobias Dougs , Jason Dunham , Lars Hoffmann , Zbyněk Kukačka , Daniel Larin , Mark Mahon , Patryk Pysz , Paul Strand , Matt Turek , Harald Waibel , Heiko Weitze , Sven Zywitza |
| Trainer: | Bob Burns |
Second division team 1999/2000
| position | Surname |
| Goal: | Mariusz Cissewski , Carsten Solbach |
| Defense: | Derek Booth , Phil Bourque , Alexander Engel , Alexander Genze , Karsten Mende , Jayson Meyer |
| Storm: | Jason Dunham , Mario Gehrig , John Johnson , Moe Lemay , Jay Luknowsky , Mark Mahon , Mike Millar , Andy Pritchard , Patrick Pysz , Christoph Sandner , Jürgen Trattner , Harald Waibel |
| Trainer: | Ross Yates |
player
Significant former players
(Team membership and position in brackets)
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Club culture
Fans and rivalries
Among the spectators of the franchise of the Anschutz Entertainment Group , which moved from Munich to Hamburg in 2002 and which plays in the Hanseatic city under the name Hamburg Freezers , there are also many former fans of the Hamburg Crocodiles, such as the “Eispiraten” fan club. Among the fans of the lower-class clubs in Hamburg, the Hamburger SV, the Altonaer SV and the Crocodiles, the subject of "Freezers" is a controversial topic. Opponents criticize that the Freezers are taking the spectators away from the small teams, while proponents say that the DEL franchise is making Hamburg ice hockey public on a large scale, which in turn can bring spectators to the small clubs.
On February 21, 2006, a friendly game between the Crocodiles Hamburg and the Hamburg Freezers took place in front of 2,300 spectators in the Farmsen ice rink. The Freezers won 13-0 and the proceeds went to the Crocodile's youth division. Although the Freezers also supported the youth work of the club in other ways at the time, some Crocodiles fan groups categorically rejected the newly established franchise .
Since 2009 there has been a close relationship between fans of the Harsefeld Tigers and the Crocodiles. Due to the sporting success of the Crocodiles, there was a lot of rivalry between the Crocodiles fans and the fans of the clubs around Hamburg. In the meantime, however, these rivalries have subsided and the relationship between Hamburger SV, Adendorfer EC and EC Timmendorfer Strand has relaxed. However, there is still a great rivalry between the supporters of the Crocodiles and the fans of the Salzgitter Icefighters.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Crocodiles rise. In: www.hockeyweb.de. August 25, 2010, accessed November 2, 2018 .
- ↑ “The restart of the ex-Freezers captain as a crocodile” , Hamburger Abendblatt dated June 30, 2016, accessed on July 8, 2016.
- ↑ Herbert Hohenberger becomes Crocodiles trainer ( Memento from December 31, 2018 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Hamburger Abendblatt: The city of Hamburg collects money from the crocodiles. Retrieved October 27, 2017 .
- ^ Hamburger Abendblatt- Hamburg: Jacek Plachta is the new coach of the Crocodiles. May 18, 2018, accessed December 31, 2018 .
- ↑ Alexander Berthold and Björn Jensen: Ice Hockey: Shock! Crocodiles Hamburg file for bankruptcy. December 14, 2018, accessed December 31, 2018 .
- ↑ Alexander Berthold: Troubled crocodiles ask player agents for time. December 28, 2018, accessed December 31, 2018 .
- ↑ The cow is off the ice for the time being ( Memento from January 19, 2019 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Creditors agree to Crocodiles Hamburg's insolvency plan - preservation of the professional team in the Oberliga Nord is almost guaranteed. In: eishockeynews.de . April 24, 2019, accessed January 20, 2020 .
- ↑ Ice hockey game in the Millerntor Stadium? In: stadionwelt.de. January 17, 2020, accessed January 20, 2020 .
Oberliga Nord
|
Black Dragons Erfurt • Saale Bulls Halle • Crocodiles Hamburg • Hammer Eisbären • Hanover Indians • Hanover Scorpions • Herford EV • Herner EV • Krefeld EV • Icefighters Leipzig • EG Diez-Limburg • Rostock Piranhas • Tilburg Trappers |
Oberliga Süd
|
Deggendorfer SC • EV Füssen • Höchstadter EC • HC Landsberg • EV Lindau • ECDC Memmingen • EHF Passau • EC Peiting • EV Regensburg • SC Riessersee • Starbulls Rosenheim • VER Selb • 1. EV Weiden |
