Danny from the birches

Danny from the birches
Danny from the birches, with the 2018 Olympic silver medal
Date of birth	February 15, 1985
place of birth	Dusseldorf , Germany
size	186 cm
Weight	88 kg
position	goalkeeper
number	# 33
Catch hand	Left
Career stations
2000-2003	Young eagle Mannheim
2003-2009	Adler Mannheim Heilbronn falcon
2009-2010	Iserlohn Roosters
2010-2015	Cologne Sharks
since 2015	EHC Red Bull Munich

Danny aus den Birken (born February 15, 1985 in Düsseldorf ) is a German ice hockey goalkeeper who has been under contract with EHC Red Bull Munich in the German ice hockey league since April 2015 .

Career

Danny aus den Birken started his professional career in 2000 when he joined the DNL team at Adler Mannheim . For three years the goalkeeper played mainly for the young eagles, with whom he won the DNL championship in 2002 and 2003. In the season 2002/03 received from the Birken, first due to a suspension then due to an injury of the actual goalkeeper Mike Rosati , first assignments with the seniors in the DEL . From the 2003/04 season the left catcher played mainly for the cooperation partner Heilbronner Falken in the 2nd Bundesliga and, after their relegation, in the Oberliga . If the Mannheim goalkeeper failed, he was also appointed to the DEL squad by the Adler. Danny aus den Birken had a contract in Mannheim until 2009 and switched to the Iserlohn Roosters after the season .

Danny from the Birken in the jersey of the Kölner Haie

At the Sauerland he signed a contract for two years until 2011 and should take turns in goal with the still young goalkeeper Sebastian Stefaniszin . After he stayed at the Anaheim Ducks rookie camp at the beginning of the season, von der Birken played the first five games of the Roosters in a row in the 2009/10 season. In his second game he booked his first shutout in the Iserlohn jersey. After a mistake in the game against the Kassel Huskies , Stefaniszin was given preference for the first time. However, this showed mixed performance and was negative due to a game misconduct penalty and a match penalty. In the further course from the Birken showed constant performances and was one of the statistically best goalkeepers in the league. This prompted coach Ulrich Liebsch to state that at this point in time the Birken was the seeded of the two goalies, but that Stefaniszin had the opportunity to recommend himself through performance. After his competitor was temporarily no longer in the squad due to lack of discipline, Birken finally prevailed as the clear number one. In the 2010/11 season he started as a regular goalkeeper, but was only able to partially meet the expectations of the Iserlohn team. Therefore, his contract was terminated in November 2010 by mutual agreement. For the following games he switched from the Birken to the Cologne Sharks.

In Cologne he achieved a catch quota of almost 95% within a very short time and the Haie announced in January 2011 that his contract, which originally ran until the end of the season, had been extended for three more seasons. He finished the main round in 2012/13 with the Haien tied with his old club Adler Mannheim as runner-up in the table and was runner-up in the subsequent playoffs . The following season the Haie finished in fifth place and aus den Birken was named goalkeeper of the year for the first time . In the subsequent playoffs he was again runner-up. When the Haie signed Swedish goalkeeper Gustaf Wesslau for the 2015/16 season after the disappointing 2014/15 season , in which Cologne only finished eleventh , switched from the Birken - despite the current contract in Cologne until summer 2016 - to League competitor EHC Red Bull Munich . With Munich he became German champion in 2016 , 2017 and 2018 after finishing the main round as first in the table with his team. In 2017 and 2018 he was a regular goalkeeper in the playoffs. After the main round in 2018/19 , he had the best goals against goals in the league with 1.91 goals conceded per game and the second best catch rate of all DEL goalkeepers with 92.6 percent . In addition, he was able to book five shutouts and was a guarantee that the "Red Bulls" could finish the main round in second place. For these achievements, he was named goalkeeper of the year for the second time in his career and was named player of the year for the first time . On October 4, 2019, he reached his 46th shutout in his 484th DEL game with the Kölner Haien and is now the sole record holder in the DEL, ahead of Ian Gordon (45), who retired in 2013 .

For the German junior national team, von der Birken took part in the U18 junior world championship in 2003 . Since 2011, von der Birken has been part of the extended squad of the German national team . He was nominated as the third goalkeeper at the 2013 and 2014 World Championships . He had his first World Cup appearance on May 20, 2014 in the preliminary round match against the United States , which the German national team lost 4-5. At the Winter Olympics in 2018 reached from the birches as goalkeeper with the German team the final, which against the Russian team with 3: 4 in the extension was lost. At the end of the tournament, Aus den Birken was also named the best goalkeeper in the competition.

Achievements and Awards

• 2002 DNL championship with the young eagles Mannheim
• 2003 DNL championship with the young eagles Mannheim
• 2007 German champion with the Adler Mannheim
• 2014 DEL goalkeeper of the year
• 2016 German champion with the EHC Red Bull Munich
• 2017 German champion with the EHC Red Bull Munich
• 2018 German champion with the EHC Red Bull Munich
• 2019 DEL Player and Goalkeeper of the Year

International

• 2018 silver medal at the Olympic Winter Games
• 2018 Best Goalkeeper of the Winter Olympics

Career statistics

				Regular season								Play-offs
season	team	league		Sp	Min	SO	GT	GTS	Svs	Sv%		Sp	Min	SO	GT	GTS	Svs	Sv%
2000/01	Young eagle Mannheim	DNL		16	926	1	38	2.46
2001/02	Young eagle Mannheim	DNL		21st	1265	6th	46	2.18				5	310		6th	1.16
2002/03	Young eagle Mannheim	DNL		16	940	5	16	1.02				3	180		7th	2.33
2002/03	Adler Mannheim	DEL		7th	91	0	5	3.31	39	88.64		-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2003/04	Adler Mannheim	DEL		1	29	0	1	2.07	15th	93.75		1	42	0	4th	5.78	6th	60.00
2003/04	Heilbronn falcon	2nd BL		7th	336	0	23	3.25				1	60	0	8th	8.00
2004/05	Heilbronn falcon	OIL		11	670	2	24	2.15				4th	220	0	8th	2.16
2005/06	Heilbronn falcon	OIL		24	1400	2	60	2.57				3	90	0	5	1.58
2006/07	Adler Mannheim	DEL		3	182	2	8th	2.63	62	88.6		-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2006/07	Heilbronn falcon	OIL		21st	1266	1	52	2.46				9	550	1	11	1.20
2007/08	Adler Mannheim	DEL		2	95	0	4th	2.51	52	92.9		1	60	0	4th	4.00	17th	80.9
2007/08	Heilbronn falcon	2nd BL		31	1878	3	68	2.17				5	300	0	19th	3.80
2008/09	Adler Mannheim	DEL		6th	280	1	12	2.57	120	90.9		-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2008/09	Heilbronn falcon	2nd BL		9	540	0	23	2.55				-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2009/10	Iserlohn Roosters	DEL		49	2728	4th	137	3.01	1296	90.4		-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2010/11	Cologne Sharks	DEL		31	1902	5	71	2.24	1020	93.5		5	346	0	21st	3.10	195	90.3
2011/12	Cologne Sharks	DEL		35	2051	3	86	2.52	1063	92.5		6th	355			2.70		92.4
2012/13	Cologne Sharks	DEL		36	2131	4th	75	2.11	977	92.9		12	714	2		2.10		93.5
2013/14	Cologne Sharks	DEL		39	2377	4th	89	2.25	1083	92.4		17th	1089	3		1.60		94.8
2014/15	Cologne Sharks	DEL		51	2951	3	127	2.58	1474	92.1
DEL total				211	12294	21st	520	2.53	6011	91.7		42	2606	5	29	3.21	218	85.3

( Legend for the goalkeeper statistics: GP or Sp = total games; W or S = wins; L or N = defeats; T or U or OT = draws or overtime or shootout defeats; min. = Minutes; SOG or SaT = shots on goal; GA or GT = goals conceded; SO = shutouts ; GAA or GTS = goals conceded ; Sv% or SVS% = catch quota ; EN = empty net goal ; ¹  play-downs / relegation ; italics : statistics not complete)

Web links

Commons : Danny aus den Birken  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Danny from the birches at eurohockey.com
• Danny from the birches at eliteprospects.com (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Iserlohn Roosters, stadium magazine: "It fits!", Published on October 18, 2009
2. ↑ haie.de, Haie sign goalkeeper Danny from the Birken
3. ↑ koeln.de, Haie extend contract with Keeper aus den Birken
4. ↑ Kölner Stadtanzeiger, Haie Keeper Danny aus den Birken faces tough competition , published on March 17, 2015, accessed on April 11, 2015
5. ↑ Kölner Rundschau, goalkeeper Danny aus den Birken leaves the Kölner Haie , published on April 10, 2015, accessed on April 25, 2017
6. ↑ Ice Hockey News from March 5, 2019, page 31
7. ↑ GA BONN: DEL Ice Hockey League: Haie had no chance against current champions. Retrieved October 4, 2019 . 
8. ↑ Danny aus den Birken is Player and Goalkeeper of the Year - Lehtivuori, Gogulla, Seider and Jackson also received awards. In: eishockeynews.de. March 9, 2019, accessed March 13, 2019 .