Ice hockey in Braunlage

EC Harzer Falken
Greatest successes
	Champion of the Regionalliga Nord 2020
Club information
history	WSV Braunlage (until 1984) ; EC Braunlage (1984–1995) ; Braunlager EHC / Harz (1995–2000) ; Braunlager SC / Harz (2000–2006) ; ESC Harzer Wölfe (2006–2012) ; EC Harzer Falken (since 2012)
Nickname	Hawks
Club colors	Red , black , white
league	Regionalliga North
Venue	Braunlage ice rink
capacity	2548 seats
Head coach	Jan Boenning
captain	Artyom Kostyrev
Season 2019/20	master

The history of the sport of hockey in Braunlage in the Harz in Lower Saxony is characterized by different teams, which at times at the senior level second division ( Braunlager EHC / resin and EC Braunlage ) and Ms. Hockey at the Bundesliga ( WSV Braunlage participated). Since 2012, skating has been practiced in Braunlage under the flag of the EC Harzer Falken club . The first men's team is currently taking part in the Regionalliga Nord.

History (men's ice hockey)

Winter sports club Braunlage (until 1984)

In 1950/51 the WSV Braunlage played for one season in the Oberliga , the highest German league at the time. In 1974 the WSV rose to the fourth-class Regionalliga Nord . In 1975 Braunlage was divided into the (new) group West, which could be won in 1977 . Thus, the team rose to the Oberliga Nord . After the team entered the WSV under the name EC in the summer of 1982, the WSV was separated from the WSV in the summer of 1984, with the team moving up to the 2nd Bundesliga North for the 1983/84 season for Königsborner EV .

The Wurmberg Stadium is the home of Braunlager ice hockey

EC Braunlage (1984 to 1995)

Under the name EC Braunlage, the team competed in the 2nd Bundesliga North from the 1984/85 to 1985/86 season , before bankruptcy was prevented by a compulsory settlement in the summer of 1986 after relegation to the Oberliga Nord and the game could be continued . From the 1989/90 season the team continued to play under the name EC Harz / Braunlage until the introduction of the German Ice Hockey League in the summer of 1994 in the Oberliga Nord and was divided into the - now second-rate - 1st League North . After the season, the EC went bankrupt and was dissolved.

Braunlager EHC / Harz (1995 to 2000)

In the spring of 1995, EHC / Harz was founded for Braunlager , which reported the senior and junior teams to play from the 1995/96 season. The senior team of the EHC was able to start playing in the fourth-class Regionalliga North / East, from which it rose via the 2nd North League in 1996/97 to the 1st North League in 1997/98 and was a founding member of the re-introduced 2nd ice hockey Bundesliga for the 1998 season / Was 99 . In the 1999/00 season , as 13th in the preliminary round, the team could not qualify directly for the next season and was the only remaining team to compete in the qualifying round with the teams from the Oberliga Süd . After the athletic qualification did not succeed there either, the EHC had to stop playing due to financial problems and was liquidated. In April 2012 the bankruptcy proceedings were closed for the association.

Braunlager SC / Harz (2000 to 2006)

In the spring of 2000, Braunlager SC , which had been founded in 1986 to be on the safe side and had not been an active club in gaming until then, was revived as the successor to the EHC and renamed Braunlager SC / Harz . For the 2000/01 season, the senior team of the SC took part in the sixth class Lower Saxony league in the game and managed as a champion straight away in the fifth class Association League North. The possible skipping of this league - due to the replenishment of the Regionalliga Nord / Ost with the teams of the self-dissolving Oberliga Nord - was not allowed to the SC and in the 2001/02 season the athletic qualification was not achieved. Only through the redistribution of the leagues did the team move up to the fourth-class Regionalliga Nord for the 2002/03 season. In the summer of 2004, the club management of the SC, like the Eisbären Juniors Berlin , considered moving up to the re-introduced Oberliga Nord 2004/05 , but this did not happen for financial reasons. At the end of 2006, Braunlager SC / Harz filed for bankruptcy again. This was preceded by the resignation of President Albert Baumann, after he was not re-elected mayor of the city of Braunlage.

ESC Harzer Wölfe (2006 to 2012)

After the bankruptcy of Braunlager SC, the ESC Harzer Wölfe club was founded at the end of September 2006 and was able to take over the starting place of the previous club in the regional league under the structure of a gaming community. The team finished the season in the regional league in 3rd place and thus managed the athletic qualification for the major league. For economic reasons, however, the promotion was abandoned. At the end of January 2008, financial problems threatening the existence of the association were confirmed by the board of directors and the advisory board.

In the 2008/2009 season, the Harzer Wölfe finished the preliminary round of the Regionalliga Nord with 18 points ahead of first place and the final round with five points as champions. However, the promotion to the league was again waived.

On December 9, 2009, the club filed for bankruptcy after being defeated in a labor dispute with a previous player and unable to bear the financial burden. The season continued properly. As a result of the restructuring of the league operation of the Harz Wolves played in the 2010/2011 season in the Oberliga Nord , from the team because of no-show in the last two games during the season 2011/12 forced relegation Because already during the 2011/12 season occurred financial Problems was commissioned by the district court of Goslar in May 2012 because of a possible insolvency of the association. On June 25, 2012, the Goslar District Court opened preliminary insolvency proceedings against the association under file number 32 IN 19/12. The law firm charged with the preliminary insolvency administration did not allow the club to resume gaming operations until the creditors' meeting in September 2012.

The Lower Saxony Association gave an exception period for a successor solution until the date meeting on August 19, 2012 in order to create the conditions for continued gaming operations in Braunlage. With a planned move to Schierke, game operations could not have continued in the NEV area.

EC Harzer Falken (since 2012)

In the summer of 2012, the new EC Harzer Falken club was founded with its headquarters and venue in Braunlage. The team took 1st place in the fifth-class Verbandsliga Nord in the 2012/13 season. She has been playing in the third-class Oberliga Nord since the 2013/14 season . On March 7, 2014, the Harzer Falken won the North Cup 2014. They first prevailed against Adendorf and in the final against HSV. In the 2014/2015 season the EC Harzer Falken started again in the Oberliga Nord and were able to take a good third place at the end of the main round. In the playoffs they prevailed in the quarterfinals with 4-2 in the series against the Crocodiles Hamburg. In the semifinals they failed after an exciting series with 1: 2 against the eventual champions Hannover Scorpions. The 2015/16 season ended in 11th place in the Oberliga Nord. For the 2016/17 season , Norbert Pascha was hired as a coach, who had already coached the Falken for a short time in the previous season. In this season as well as in the following season , the Harz Falcons were relegated to the Oberliga Nord, but remained in the league as a successor in both cases. In the 2018/19 season , the penultimate place in the main round managed to keep the league. However, on March 25, 2019, the association filed for insolvency at the Goslar District Court. A plan insolvency was reached, so that the game operations in the regional league could continue for the 2019/20 season. This season was canceled before the start of the play-offs due to the corona pandemic.The Harzer Falken were later declared champions after they had finished both the preliminary and the championship round in first place.

Important past and present players and coaches

WSV Braunlage (women's ice hockey)

At WSV Braunlage , a women's team was formed in 1995, which began in the 1995/96 season with participation in the fourth-class 2nd division north / east. Already in the first season he was promoted to the first division north / east. In the 1998/99 season they were promoted from the first division north / east to the second-class second division north, from which the team rose to the women's ice hockey division in 2000. In 2003 the WSV won the women's DEB Cup .

The WSV team took part in the women's ice hockey Bundesliga from the 2000/01 season to the 2005/06 season and was relegated to the 2nd division north in 2006. In the summer of 2006, those responsible for the WSV and the EHC Osterode agreed on a cooperation in view of the lack of players in both teams that qualified for the 2nd North League 2006/07. However, since a syndicate is not allowed to play in the league, those responsible agreed to participate under the name WSV Braunlage, and the EHC Osterode team was canceled from the game. At the reporting date for the 2008/09 season, those responsible announced that, due to a lack of players, no team would be reported for the 2nd division north.

Important players

Wurmberg Cup

In 2009, after a long break, another tournament for the Wurmberg Cup was held. Participating teams were the Hanover Indians , the Iserlohn Roosters , the DEG Metro Stars and the eventual winner, the Kassel Huskies . In the 1970s and 1980s, the ice hockey tournament took place annually with an international field. Participating teams included the national team of Poland , Spartak and HK CSKA Moscow , TPS Turku and Krylja Sowetow Moscow as well as other teams from the former ČSSR , Romania and Sweden as well as the top teams in Germany at the time.

Ice rink

The Wurmberg ice stadium is the home stadium of the Braunlager teams. After the ice rink in Altenau was demolished, the home games of the EHC Osterode teams participating in league games were played there. In addition, the Harz Cup is played there by the hobby teams from Altenau and Clausthal-Zellerfeld .

The stadium was built in 1974 and has space for a good 2500 spectators, half of which are seats. In the case of outstanding events, it can be expanded with an additional grandstand on the open narrow side.

Individual evidence

↑ Goslarsche Zeitung online edition April 25, 2012: "Harzer Wölfe: Second division Braunlager EHC / Harz finally buried after twelve years"

↑ Goslarsche Zeitung May 21, 2012: "Association kicks the" Harzer Wölfe "from the Oberliga" ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed online June 17, 2012)@1@ 2

↑ Goslarsche Zeitung May 7, 2012: "" Harzer Wölfe ": Court orders insolvency report" ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed online June 17, 2012)@1@ 2

↑ Goslarsche Zeitung June 26, 2012: "For the sixth time in bankruptcy: proceedings against wolves opened" ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed online August 16, 2012)@1@ 2

↑ Goslarsche Zeitung June 26th, 2012: "Ice hockey in the Harz mountains soon in a double pack?" ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed online on August 16, 2012)@1@ 2

↑ Goslarsche Zeitung August 7, 2012: "Attractive team necessary for a new start in Harz ice hockey" ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed online on August 16, 2012)@1@ 2

↑ Goslarsche Zeitung June 27, 2012: "The Lower Saxony Ice Hockey Association rejects Schierke plans" ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed online August 16, 2012)@1@ 2

Web links

[1] Goslarsche Zeitung online edition April 25, 2012: "Harzer Wölfe: Second division Braunlager EHC / Harz finally buried after twelve years"